
Glass Tffrjj L 
Book , . -___ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 



THE 

PRETTY GIRL 

PAPERS 



By 
EMMA E. WALKER, M. D. 



BOSTON 
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 

1910 



Copyright, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 
By The Curtis Publishing Company. 



Copyright, 1910, 
By The Circle Publishing Company. 



Copyright, 1910, 
By Little, Brown, and Company. 



All rights reserved 
Published, October, 1910 



Electrotyped and Printed by 
THE COLONIAL PRESS 
C. H. Simonds & Co., Boston, U.S.A. 



©CI.A273552 



of TEvttyi (Eltm* 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTEB PAGE 

I. The Ideal Bedroom 1 

II. Feminine Odors 10 

III. BATHrNG WITHOUT A BATH-ROOM 17 

IV. What Girls Wear .... 30 
V. Girls who " Come to Pieces n in 

Public 36 

VI. Feet and Shoes 43 

VII. The Shampoo and Other Things . 52 
VTII. A Talk about Superfluous Hair, 

Hair Removers, and Hair Tonics 64 
IX. What the Advertised Cosmetics and 

" Beautifiers " Really Are . 72 

X. The " Second Face " . . . .83 

XI. The Window of the Soul (1) . . 93 

XII. The Window of the Soul (2) . . 99 

XIII, The Making of a Beautiful Mouth 107 



XIV. The Greatest Charm of All . 

XV. The Girl of Underweight 

XVI. Those Extra Pounds . 

XVII. Is Candy - eating Harmful for 

Girls? 

XVTTI. The Girl across the Aisle 

XIX. Dust Disease and Colds 



114 
122 
127 

132 
139 
148 



viii 


CONTENTS 




CHAPTER 




PAGE 


XX. 


Dangeks that We Mat Avoid . 


155 


XXI. 


How to Overcome Nervousness 


160 


XXII. 


Crushes among Girls . 


167 


XXIII. 


A Girl's Athletics in Summer . 


174 


XXIV. 


Summer Emergencies . 


181 


XXV. 


During Vacation .... 


190 


XXVI. 


The Girl in Business . 


197 


XXVII. 


Beauty's Necessity 


209 


XXVIII. 


The Skin: Its Enemies and Friends 216 


XXIX. 


Christmas Joy that Girls Can Give 223 


XXX. 


A Little Talk about Marriage 


232 


XXXI. 


If You Would Be a Pretty and 




Healthy Bride .... 


239 


XXXII. 


How Four Thousand Girls Found 




Health 


246 


XXXIII. 


Physical Culture in a Nutshell 


262 


XXXIV. 


Little Ways to " Pretty Up " 


272 



THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 



THE IDEAL BEDROOM 

The other day I read that it takes two hundred 
years of outdoor life to make a beautiful woman. 
The English dairymaid, who has the inheritance 
of these two hundred years, gives us proof in 
the milk and roses of her complexion. Only 
recently have the women of our country appre- 
ciated the effect of outdoor life on health and 
beauty. 

But next to outdoor living, sunshine and fresh 
air in the bedroom are the great beautifiers. 
The essential elements of a healthful bedroom 
are sunshine, fresh air, and cleanliness. No- 
where in the house do we need sunshine more 
than in the bedroom. Sunlight is one of the best 
disinfectants that we have. So, in the selection 
of this room, the exposure should always be 
considered. 

Experience gives evidence that living in sunny 



2 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

rooms is a distinct aid in attaining a wholesome 
skin. The cause of obstinate face eruptions has 
been, in certain instances, traced to living in 
sunless rooms. Ever since our first physiology 
days, we have been told that each person should 
be allowed at least three thousand cubic feet of 
fresh air an hour. But an English writer puts 
it in a more interesting way, telling us that if 
we had to purchase every morning the necessary 
amount of air food, and if we wished it left like 
milk in quart bottles, there would be delivered 
more than eighteen thousand quarts every day; 
indeed, we should need seven hundred and fifty 
quart bottles for every hour, and twelve quart 
bottles for every minute. Imagine one's dismay 
if the air man should fail, or go on a strike, or 
even be late with his precious wares! There 
would be nothing left for us to do but to use 
over material that had already been used once 
or oftener by ourselves, or even by other people. 

It is surely most unpleasant to feel that we 
are taking the refuse from some one else's lungs! 
But this is what we do without any compunction 
when sleeping in a close bedroom, and when 
attending many, indeed, most theatres, concerts, 
and public lectures. 

May not the poor complexions of so many 



THE IDEAL BEDROOM 3 

Italian girls be due to lack of ventilation in 
their bedrooms? For the Italian is notoriously 
afraid of night air; to her, night air means 
mosquitoes, malaria, fevers, and other ills. Do 
you remember the little incident of his Venetian 
life, related by one of our modern writers, who 
made an official complaint against a thief enter- 
ing the open window at night? On learning 
that the American kept his window open after 
sundown, the authorities dismissed the case with 
a shrug of the shoulders and the comment: " An 
American custom." 

To admit the fresh air is not sufficient; a 
provision must be made for the exit of the 
stale air. The ideal bedroom has an important 
ventilator, an open fireplace. If, besides the 
fireplace, a door is left ajar, the ventilation will 
be quite satisfactory, but better still is the 
ventilation secured by means of the windows. 
If two windows face each other and both upper 
sashes are lowered for several inches, there will 
be a continuous current of air passing through 
the room, without much draft on the bed. For 
hot air rises, while cold air falls; the air, then, 
that is in the ordinary sleeping-room will ascend 
and pass out of the top of the window, while 
the fresh, cooler air will come in to take its place. 



4 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

And just here is a point worth remembering: 
warm air is not necessarily impure air, just as 
cold air is not necessarily pure air. 

If there is only one window in the room, 
ventilation may still approach the ideal. Drop 
the upper sash a few inches and raise the lower 
three or four inches. A strip of thin wood, or a 
piece of cardboard, six or eight inches wide, is 
then placed over the lower opening, but a little 
way from it. In this way we have three points of 
vantage without incurring the risk of any special 
draft, — the upper and lower opening and the 
lower space between the two window-sashes. If, 
however, there is need of special protection 
against air currents, the method used for hospital 
beds may be employed. A little curtain of sheet- 
ing made to fit the back of the bed is tied at the 
four corners by strips of tape. In this way there 
is protection at the head of the bed from any 
draft. The curtain may be renewed with the 
sheets. 

Since some of us cannot have the ideal bed- 
room, it is often necessary, especially in the city, 
to use a little ingenuity to conceal defects. If 
one of your windows opens out on a blank wall, 
or on an ugly prospect, you may insert into the 
window space a white lattice frame, over which 



THE IDEAL BEDROOM 5 

a hardy vine is trained I know of no prettier 
climber than the English ivy. On waking up 
in the morning such an outlook will give pleasant 
thoughts, starting you on the right road for the 
day. A hanging- basket, too, is a great joy, 
bringing to the city girl a bit of Nature. Some 
one may object that there should be no plants 
in the sleeping-room, but it has been estimated 
that the atmosphere of a moderate-sized room 
is not as much vitiated by one hundred average 
growing house plants as it is by the burning of 
one common candle. 

It is well, however, to remove all cut flowers 
from the bedroom over night. It leaves the 
air of the room pure, while the flowers themselves 
stay fresher. 

A true saying it is that the habitation of an 
individual reflects the inmost character. On 
the other hand, the surroundings in which we 
live have a marked influence on the disposition. 
Have you not tested for yourself, as you first 
opened your eyes in the morning, the soothing 
effect of a well-ordered room? Before going to 
bed it is an excellent plan to put the room in as 
perfect order as possible. 

Try to keep the bedroom for sleeping purposes 
only. Crumbs are an abomination in a bedroom. 



6 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

If you are living in one room, it will not be very 
hard to limit luncheons to fruit. And if you are 
living at home, no food need be kept here. 

Sleeping by one's self is almost essential to 
health. When compelled to share your bedroom 
with another girl, separate beds should be used, 
leaving, if possible, three feet between the two 
beds. The bed should never stand against the 
wall. It should be pulled out a little on all 
sides, in order that there may be free circulation 
of air. 

I do not believe that it is really necessary to 
say anything about feather beds, because they 
are so little used in these days of advanced 
hygiene. As to the mattress, you will find that 
if quilted very closely it will not need to be more 
than about half the thickness of the ordinary 
mattress; indeed, if you have a thick, old mat- 
tress, you can have it made over into two, 
placing the tufts about four inches apart. This 
mattress, also, will last far longer than an ordi- 
nary one. 

Far better forego all drapery about the bed, 
although, if you feel that you must have a canopy, 
let it be of dainty muslin that can be frequently 
laundered. 

Great danger lurks in damp bedclothes. 



THE IDEAL BEDROOM 7 

Damp linen offers encouragement to microbes. 
For this and other reasons, bedding ought daily 
to be well aired and sunned. Feather pillows 
are kept sweet by exposure to fresh air. Sun 
draws the oil from feathers. 

And now as to the walls of this habitation of 
yours. Painted walls are the most hygienic and 
satisfactory. In hospitals a pale yellow or drab 
has been found very pleasing to the eye. A solid 
color is always the most restful. Have you not 
had the experience, when ill, of chasing some 
grotesque figure around and around with your 
wearied mind, until the very pattern was seared 
into your brain? Oil-painted walls can be wiped 
down daily with oiled cloths. These walls are 
practically indestructible. The ceiling ought to 
be light in color. 

A hardwood floor in the bedroom is most 
advantageous, and rugs are preferable to carpets. 
Choose a closely woven rug, that it may hold 
as little dust as possible. The summer rug is 
made of grass or fibre, such a floor covering 
being both satisfactory and inexpensive. Then, 
too, it can be taken up and cleaned every week. 

The brooms should always be dampened when 
used; but a carpet-sweeper is better, gathering 
up, as it does, all of the dust without scattering 



8 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

it through the room. When dusting, use a 
damp cloth, never a feather duster, which has 
no place in a hygienic house. 

Keep your dust-cloth clean, washing it out after 
its use. 

Girls often ask: " Do you not think that 
there is a great deal of nonsense in all this talk 
about microbes? " Not when you know the 
results of scientific research. The street dust 
of large towns has been found to contain bits of 
straw, hay, pollen of plants, fragments of cotton 
and wool, fibres and hairs, wings and other parts 
of insects, microbes, tiny particles of iron and 
other metals, sand, coal-dust and lime. The 
dust of our rooms is of much the same character, 
showing, also, scales from the skin. We know 
from experience how even in a room that is 
supposed to be thoroughly clean, innumerable 
tiny particles can be seen dancing through a 
ray of sunlight. Many times the germs of 
tuberculosis have been cultivated from the dust 
taken from a room where a tuberculous patient 
has lived. 

How important is it, then, to have in your 
bedroom only things that can be thoroughly 
cleansed. Thus will be banished much bric-a- 
brac and many knickknacks, such as the numer- 



THE IDEAL BEDROOM 9 

ous photographs cherished by so many girls. 
Think of the amount of dust that such objects 
accumulate, even in a short time. Let the 
pictures that you have be plainly framed and 
glass covered. 

The ideal room for a girl asleep is dark, since 
light is a stimulus even to closed eyes. If you 
have not the old-fashioned, dark green window- 
blinds, dark shades offer an excellent substitute. 
By using a little ingenuity, the necessity for 
artificial light in the bedroom will diminish. 
Going to bed by candle-light is very restful. 
Thoroughly air the room after the light is put 
out before getting into bed. 

And one point more. The ideal bedroom is 
without plumbing, for although modern plumb- 
ing is supposed to be perfect, there are many 
uncertainties. If you do have running water 
in your room, leave a little in the bowl and spread 
a damp towel over the top of the basin. 

There is no place where the note of harmony 
will have a more beneficent effect upon our 
spirits than in the room where we spend one- 
third of our lives, in leisure, rest, and sleep. 



II 

FEMININE ODORS 

If a fairy were to offer you the gift of daintiness 
or of beauty, which would you choose? 

Hardly is the question asked when I hear 
the myriad answers that come floating in, the 
thoughtless girls clamoring for " Beauty, beauty," 
while in gentler tones I hear from wiser lips 
the whisper; " Daintiness I would choose! " 

But, you thoughtless girls, think a moment. 
Whom do you seek to charm in this world? 
You needn't tell me: I know. And do you 
attribute to beauty the greatest power? Then 
you haven't heard what men say about these 
things. Ask your brother what he thinks. If 
he has never told you before, you will probably 
have a shock. For, believe me, this is a matter 
of common remark among the other sex. To 
them even beauty is repellent when it has not 
the setting of dainty personal habits. 

And what do we mean by dainty personal 
habits? Perhaps the breath is the flag which 



FEMININE ODORS 11 

flaunts itself most conspicuously in the face of 
him who comes to storm the citadel. 

You have all experienced the necessity of 
avoiding the offensiveness of the breath of a 
friend. Is there any characteristic which so 
stamps one as the odor of the breath? I recently 
heard a man say that the average girl's breath 
was to him appalling. The sweet breath seems 
to be the exception. " Take the average girl 
three hours after eating," he said, " and it is 
astonishing how few girls with sweet breath one 
will find." And what is the cause of it? The 
breath is almost without odor in health, although 
there is a fragrance from certain glands along 
the edges of the nostrils. This odor is charac- 
teristic of individuals, the delicacy of the odor 
varying with the refinement of the person. But, 
however offensive the breath may be, it is a 
symptom only. 

As there is apt to be a disagreeable taste in 
the mouth and a coated tongue, a girl who has 
an unpleasant breath is generally conscious of 
it herself. Gastric or intestinal disturbance 
is one of the commonest causes of this evidence 
of neglect. The ordinary habits of our daily 
life are greatly to blame for the condition. 
These habits can and must be broken, if you 



12 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

would have your breath as sweet as Nature 
intended it to be. 

In the first place, allow plenty of time for 
your meals. It is better to eat even a little less 
than you desire, and slowly, than to " bolt " 
an ordinary meal, as so many American girls 
are in the habit of doing. Eat sensible food. 
Nothing will so quickly upset your stomach 
as excessive candy-eating, especially between 
meals. A simple diet, then, is of first importance 
in keeping a sweet breath. Hurry and worry 
must be banished from the table, for food cannot 
be digested properly when one is indulging in 
either of these vices. It will be easier to spend 
more time at your meals if you keep before you 
the object of this care — a dainty breath. Lei- 
surely mastication will aid greatly the quest for 
wholesomeness. So will copious water-drinking 
between meals, by keeping all of the eliminative 
organs in good order; and proper exercise. 

It seems almost superfluous to speak of the 
care of the teeth, and still many unpleasant 
odors are directly traceable to carelessness in 
this regard. Particles of food lodging in cavities 
or between the teeth, even more than de- 
cayed teeth themselves, give rise to unpleasant 
breath. 



FEMININE ODORS 13 

Habitual mouth-breathers are very likely to 
have an unpleasant breath. 

Of course, in certain cases there may be other 
causes for offensive breath, such as disorders 
of the mouth, nose, throat, or lungs, all of 
which need special medical treatment. 

One cause more, and a potent one, is disturb- 
ance of the mental equilibrium; if you are a 
nervous girl you have doubtless discovered what 
this means. Almost instantaneously, on the 
experience of some emotion, the mouth becomes 
dry and unpleasant. But you say: " How can I 
possibly help such a thing as that? " By living 
a quiet, normal life. 

Hardly less noticeable are the so-called body 
odors, any one of which is easily located. In 
running over the different odors that come from 
hair, axillae, feet, soiled clothing, and so on, 
each one in turn seems more disgusting than 
the last. One cannot keep herself clean and 
sweet without the greatest care, and it is a 
glaring fact that fastidious cleanliness is an 
exception among even refined girls. 

I have in mind now a girl, a college graduate, 
well brought up, who has had every advantage, 
and yet friends are forced to associate various 
odors with her personality. Could she know of 



14 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

this impression in the minds of those about her, 
she would be horrified, for she is now totally 
unconscious that her neglect is so apparent. 

I do not think that any one can be absolutely 
dainty without at least one entire daily bath, 
and several local ones, followed by a good rubbing. 
The axillae need the most careful attention and 
so do the feet. In the matter of shields and 
stockings, eternal vigilance is the watchword. 
Be sure that if you yourself can detect an odor 
it does not remain unobserved by those about 
you. 

A girl was telling me the other day about a 
friend who belonged to her dancing-class. She 
said, under her breath, that none of the men 
wanted to dance with this girl because they said 
she smelled so " goaty." I cannot help wishing 
that I could tell her to take local baths, sometimes 
with salt and water, sometimes with alcohol. 

Washing is not the only way of keeping the 
hair sweet. Sunning and airing will do much 
for it. The dry shampoo — that is, powdering 
the hair and scalp with ground orris-root — also 
imparts a delicate fragrance and helps to absorb 
the superfluous oil; but this method cannot be 
kept up indefinitely, and can never take the 
place of washing. 



FEMININE ODORS 15 

Not long ago I went into a girl's room. She 
was in her lounging-robe, and had changed her 
heavy walking-boots for bedroom slippers. I 
really suffered before rinding an excuse to take 
my departure. 

Have you ever caught the mingled odors from 
a closet where a careless girl's clothes are hang- 
ing? It will pay you to be extravagant in your 
laundry. Indeed, it is easy for any one to wash 
out small things, like stockings, so that there will 
always be a fresh pair to put on daily. 

The seat of very many of our sensations is 
in the skin. Scientists tell us that the condition 
of the skin as well as the condition of the clothing 
next to the skin, has a very powerful influence not 
only upon our physical, but also upon our mental 
life; and does not the spiritual depend greatly 
upon both? Exquisite cleanliness, then, reaches 
far beyond the limits of attractiveness. 

And now about perfumes. A man said to me 
the other day: " Girls have the strange idea that 
men like the odor of sachet powder and perfume, 
whereas they detest it. To have a delicate 
suggestion that a woman's clothes have been 
near some agreeable powder or sachet in a 
drawer is pleasant, but to have strong perfume, 
soaked handkerchiefs, sachet bags, and such 



16 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

things carried around is perfectly repulsive to a 
man, and when this sachet odor mingles with a 
bad breath and the average body odor, the com- 
bination, and it is not an unusual one, is ab- 
solutely abhorrent." 

A strong perfume is one of the earmarks of 
vulgarity. When you choose the sachet to 
lay among your things, buy the most delicate 
one possible, and it is a pretty fancy to keep to 
the same one. Let the odor from it, a mere 
suggestion of some flower, mingle its fragrance 
with the sweet smell of freshly laundered linen. 



Ill 

BATHING WITHOUT A BATH-ROOM 

A bath-room is not a necessity for bathing. 
If it were, many girls, not only those living in the 
country but in the city as well, would be in a sad 
plight. 

One of the daintiest, freshest girls I ever met 
had to depend upon the kitchen pump for her 
water supply. She lived on a lonely farm, and 
when I asked her how she managed to keep 
herself always so sweet and clean she said: " My 
cosmetics are very simple. Every night boiling 
water from the big kettle, with a liberal supply of 
soap, gives me my cleansing bath, and in the 
morning cool water from the pump tones me up 
for the day." 

I knew how hard she had to work, so I ven- 
tured to ask: " But are you not too tired some- 
times to go through with it all? " 

"I am often tired enough to drop, but years 
ago I made bathing a habit, and I would as soon 
think of going to bed with my clothes on as with 
the stains and grime of my day's work." 



18 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

This girl had simply made cleanliness a matter 
of habit. And although she was not naturally 
beautiful she was as refreshing to look at as a 
flower. 

" When I was doing settlement work in 
Chicago last winter," wrote a young woman not 
long since, " I had the good fortune to make 
friends with a little girl whom I bribed into 
taking a daily bath, and this was our plan. 
She was to have two basins of water, one quite 
warm and the other cool. Each basin was to 
have its own wash- cloth. With the warm water 
she was to take a soap scrub, rinsing off first 
in the same water, reserving the cooler water 
with its fresh cloth for the final rinsing. She 
gave herself a good rub-down with a Turkish 
towel at the last, vigorous enough to make her 
whole skin glow. The reward for three months 
of this daily routine was to be a violin, for the 
child was very fond of music and had long 
coveted this prize. I knew that she was con- 
scientious and that I could trust her, and the 
bargain was made that she should not skip one 
day. If I could tell you of the change in her 
complexion at the end of the three months, I 
am afraid that you would accuse me of moraliz- 
ing." 



BATHING 19 

I thought at once of girls in the city who live 
in the typical boarding-house hall-bedroom, 
where the morning bath has to be of the " sponge 
variety." 

Any girl who is living in a house without a 
bath-room has various makeshifts to choose 
from to supply the deficiency. A good-sized 
papier-mache wash-tub is inexpensive, and light 
enough for any girl to manage. A tin tub also 
does very well. 

But if the family wishes to invest in something 
more elaborate, an excellent substitute will be 
found in the combination of folding tub, tank, 
and heating apparatus. It will take half an 
hour to heat about twenty gallons of water which 
the tank contains. The length of the tub varies 
from five to six feet, being large enough for a 
full plunge bath. This apparatus, when closed, 
takes up about three feet of floor space and 
stands about six feet high. It can be moved 
like a sewing-machine or any other piece of 
furniture, and although it is not cheap, it will 
last for years. 

Another full-length tub, which is made of tin, 
has a wooden bottom with a roll-top. There is 
a waste pipe at the end. When not in use the 
contrivance is hung up by a ring. 



20 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

Vapor baths may be had in many varieties, 
and for very reasonable prices. 

A girl who spent her vacation last August in 
the hills of Connecticut told me how she managed 
her bathing without a bath-room. 

" We have those luxuries all the year, and it is 
fun to go without them in vacation. I take a 
two-quart tin pail with me, so that I can always 
have hot water any time and anywhere within 
a few minutes. The best alcohol lamp I have 
ever used cost me just twelve cents. It is made 
in the form of a metal cup filled with asbestos; 
over the top is fitted a piece of wire netting. 
I buy a pint of wood alcohol which costs, as 
a rule, twenty cents. Two tablespoonfuls 
of the alcohol will thoroughly wet the as- 
bestos, and will boil two quarts of water. Of 
course there must be a standard to support 
the pail above the flame. I happened to have 
one of these that belonged to another lamp." 

The danger from the use of an alcohol lamp 
can be avoided if you are always careful to set 
it out of a draft, and if you use a lamp like the 
one just described, which does not enclose the 
alcohol. A wise precaution is to place the 
lamp in a sink or in a pan. This entire combina- 
tion may be bought, if desired. 



BATHING 21 

In England, even when there are bath-rooms 
in the house, it is a very common custom to have 
what is called a tray or sponge bath in the 
dressing-room. This is made of tin, is four or 
five feet in diameter, and has a shallow rim. 
It is like a bread pan, only much larger. It is 
called a tray bath on account of the shape, 
while the other name of sponge bath is given 
from the fact that the bather almost invariably 
uses a sponge. The so-called tray may be 
partly filled with water, the sponge dipped into 
it and squeezed out over the body, or one may 
step into the tray and use water from a basin 
on one side. This tray is large enough to sit 
down in. If you are unable to find such a 
tub, it can easily be made by an ordinary tin- 
smith. 

The portable bath is more expensive than 
those made of tin or papier-mache'. It is a 
rubber tub and may be folded up into a small 
space. English people almost universally use 
this while traveling, and an English officer is 
never without one. It is a great convenience, 
too, at the shore, where a salt-water bath is not 
in the house, and one wishes to use the sea water 
in the room. 

Another convenient portable tub is the old- 



22 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

fashioned sitz-bath. An English woman, in 
recounting her childhood experiences to me the 
other day, said that when her family went away 
on a trip, especially to the shore, they took a 
number of these sitz-baths along with them. 
They were utilized en route for stowing away 
various articles that they needed. This bath 
is made of tin, one end rising high enough to 
cover the back. They are very convenient, 
especially for bathing children. 

A district nurse visiting a tenement house 
family one day found a very sick child, whom 
she felt must be put into a hot bath at once, 
but the family had absolutely nothing that 
could be used for a tub. It so happened that 
this young woman had a rubber sheet in her 
bag. She took it out and fastened the edges to 
four chairs, letting the middle of the sheet sag 
down toward the floor in the form of a bowl. 
In this improvised tub she gave the baby its bath 
and probably saved its life. This gave her. an 
idea which she later worked out. She had a 
frame made which folded up on the principle 
of a camp-chair, and to which a rubber sheet 
was attached in the form of a basin. Much on 
the same principle is a larger folding tub made 
of water-proof material attached to a wooden 



BATHING 23 

frame. When folded, the package is not larger 
than an ironing-board. 

Space does not have to be considered by the 
girl living in the country. With a little ingenu- 
ity, there is no excuse for neglect of the daily 
bath, even if there is no bath-room in the house. 
If she cares to take any trouble she does not 
even need ingenuity to rig up a shower bath, 
that may be used at least in warm weather. 
A good substitute could be made by attaching a 
rubber tube, with a sprinkler at one end, to a 
spigot in a tub or any convenient receptacle 
holding enough water for the bath. The recep- 
tacle is raised on a platform and is filled for 
each bath. It is a good plan to put pieces of 
charcoal in the bottom of the tub to keep it 
sweet. Since such an outfit once planned can 
be used indefinitely, one can afford to go to a 
little trouble in arranging it. 

In a certain camp up in the Catskills, located 
near a stream, the water is pumped by means 
of a force-pump up into a tank, which is raised 
on a platform in a small bathing pavilion. A 
partition runs through this little house, so that 
two people can take a shower at the same time. 

Wherever there is a faucet, even if it is the 
one at the kitchen sink, it is a simple matter 



24 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

to arrange a shower bath. A sprinkler attached 
to a rubber tube is all that is necessary to com- 
plete the apparatus. One can stand in a tub 
drawn up beside the sink and take the shower 
in this way. If the water from two faucets, 
hot and cold, runs out through one opening, as 
is sometimes the case, the temperature of the 
shower can be regulated at will. However, if 
the outlets are separate, you can buy a rubber 
" Y tube " when you get your sprinkler, and 
the two branches will fit over the faucets. Or 
it would be a matter of very slight trouble and 
expense for the plumber to make a tube con- 
necting the two faucets with one outlet. 

One day last summer, from my perch in a 
skyscraper, I watched two children on a neigh- 
boring roof. The boy appeared first, climbing 
out through the scuttle with a shout. He was 
suitably arrayed for the downpour for which 
he was longing with all his little heart. The 
costume consisted of a pair of old, short, white 
trousers and a sleeveless shirt-waist. His sister 
soon joined him and she, too, wore an improvised 
bathing-suit without sleeves and abbreviated 
as to skirt. They paraded up and down, anx- 
iously scanning the sky. There had been one 
or two little sputters of rain, but more was 



BATHING 25 

promised by the lowering clouds. The expres- 
sion on the children's faces afforded a graphic 
weather bulletin; when the sun gave any sign of 
coming out the disappointment was unmistak- 
able. Before long, however, the sky darkened 
in earnest, and as the drops began to fall, these 
city waifs danced around the roof in high glee, 
reveling in their natural shower-bath. 

But to play having a shower-bath was not 
exciting enough for these imaginative youngsters. 
It was plain to see from their antics that they 
were pretending to have a surf dip. They must 
at some time in their brief existence have been 
taken to the shore, for they went through all 
the motions of swimming, diving, walking back 
to the shore and digging in the sand. The roof 
was both beach and surf. They raised their 
faces and caught the rain joyously. They went 
so near to the cornice at times that I held my 
breath, but back again they pranced around the 
friendly arm of the tenement-house chimney. 
It did seem pitiful, and yet, I thought, why 
should it! They were enjoying the blessing of a 
soft-water shower — a bath hard enough to get 
in many a model bath-room. 

The children of the roof were unlike another 
tenement-house child of whom I recently read. 



26 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

He was having an outing at a seashore fresh-air 
home. But he was not making the most of his 
privileges. As he sat digging his toes into the 
sand on the beach, one of the attendants asked 
him if he didn't want to go into the water. 

He said, " No, ma'am," with public-school 
politeness." 

" You're not afraid, are you? Don't you 
bathe at home? " 

" Yes, ma'am," he answered proudly. " I 
get an all-over every week in the wash-tub." 

" G'wan! " said a bigger boy who had run up, 
dripping and shivering, just in time to hear the 
little fellow's answer. " Yez means the dish- 
pan." 

Truly, water has charms for some that others 
always miss. 

A civil engineer who spent some years in the 
Philippines describes his method of bathing. 
" I used a five-gallon oil-can for my shower. 
The bottom was perforated by driving a small 
nail through the tin over the desired area. A 
bar of wood was fitted into the top, between the 
sides, and held by means of two nails driven 
through the sides of the can into each end of 
the bar of wood. A rope fastened to this and 
passed over a pulley served to hoist the can and 



BATHING 27 

hold it in place, the rope being held by means 
of loops which were worked over a nail on the 
wall. As the floors of the dwellings are made 
of bamboo, the water runs off as soon as it 
falls." 

Such a can arranged over a large tub may be 
easily used in a kitchen, without much water 
getting on the floor. 

This arrangement is very similar to one 
described by a major and surgeon in our army 
in telling of his life while in Cuba. He said that 
they used a tin hard-tack box. This also held 
about five gallons and was perforated. Many 
times they covered the perforations with a 
piece of tin, so that the time of the flow could 
be regulated. Sometimes the little protector was 
put inside the can over the holes, and although 
it did not entirely prevent the water from coming 
out, it did so to a great extent. A string attached 
to the piece of tin could be pulled when the 
bather was ready. Another way that they 
managed these showers was to have a little slot 
on the bottom of the can outside, through which 
a cover was pushed, and moved away, when the 
bather was ready for the shower. 

A more conventional apparatus used for the 
same purpose is made in Europe and used in the 



28 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

far East. It consists of a cylindrical can, 
twelve inches in diameter, holding about five 
gallons. A little stopper closes the inside opening 
to the sprinkler, and is so arranged that the 
pulling of a chain leading outside, to which it 
is attached, displaces it just enough to allow the 
water to flow. As soon as the pull ceases, the 
stopper falls back into place. 

When one has no bath-room, it is convenient to 
lather the body with soap and water first from 
a basin. After this any one of the improvised 
showers may be used for rinsing. 

A shower that any girl can arrange without 
difficulty may be taken from a large watering- 
pot, which is suspended a little higher than the 
head. A cord is attached to the neck of the 
spout, and the pot is tipped to any angle at the 
bather's will. By standing in a tub, the floor 
is spared. If one is camping, this idea can be 
easily utilized out of doors. A shower house 
could be made by tacking sheets around three 
or four trees or around stakes set up in the form 
of a square. 

But even this does not compare with the rare 
privileges of those far-away days in the country 
when, after much pleading, we were allowed to 
don a suitable costume and stand under over- 



BATHING 29 

flowing eaves for a brisk, rain-water shower. 
No possible bath in later years could ever equal 
in fascination the delights of those gambols 
under the hard pelting of a warm summer 
rain. 



IV 

WHAT GIRLS WEAR 

It was the custom in the Southern town, in 
which I spent my early days, for the young 
girls in school to don fresh gingham dresses 
when the first warm spring days appeared. I 
often go back to those times with pleasure, and 
wish that it were more the custom nowadays 
for girls to wear the simple wash gowns that we 
used to love. I remember that two or three 
of us decided upon a special day when we 
should all appear together in the new gowns, 
lest our solitary embarrassment be too ex- 
treme. 

However, the convenient shirt-waist now 
supplies this need to a great extent. There is 
no garment, I believe, that in many ways is .so 
hygienic as the much-abused shirt-waist. I 
cannot imagine anything to take the place of 
this garment in the wardrobe of a girl who is 
either working or traveling. By its use the 
appearance of the dress can be changed from 
day to day, and from morning to evening, for 



WHAT GIRLS WEAR 31 

several weeks, even though there may be but 
few gowns at the wearer's disposal. 

Many a girl looks more attractive in this simple 
costume than in any other which she may wear. 

Perhaps no one class of people is more attract- 
ive in appearance than trained nurses. And 
this fact is doubtless greatly due to the extreme 
neatness and freshness of their apparel. Noth- 
ing adds more to the appearance than perfect 
neatness and finish in all the details of dress. 
In a hospital that I recently visited, a charac- 
teristic uniform for the nurses had just been 
designed by the matron. One of the girls, in 
showing the attachment of the skirt to the waist, 
said the matron had so planned it that never a 
safety-pin peeped from beneath the belt. If girls 
realized how such a little blemish spoils the 
whole costume, they would be careful about the 
minutest detail. It is imperfections that catch 
the eye. 

Surely the short skirt for street wear appeals 
to sensible girls, both from the hygienic point 
of view and from that of good taste. I was 
reading yesterday of the examination of the cocoa- 
nut husk mats on the floors of a city's street- 
cars. Single fibres an inch and a half long 
were computed to hold from three million to four 



32 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

million microbes; and yet this estimate is said to 
compare favorably with that of many other floor 
coverings. Can you imagine, then, any girl who 
knows this fact, sweeping a long skirt over these 
mats, or pavements, or steps, or theatres, or other 
public buildings? If you can once be convinced 
that you are, in truth, street scavengers, when 
you wear such clothes, you will be only too 
anxious to wear skirts of a sensible length. 

Please do not for an instant think that I am 
advocating that peculiarity of dress known as 
mannishness. The greatest charm of a girl is 
her femininity. Nothing is more to be deprecated 
than the aping of mannishness. Men have only 
contempt for such imitations, and women de- 
spise them. I have in my mind now a girl who 
affects masculine attire just as far as she can. 
She wears her hair short, and over it slouches a 
soft felt hat that she takes off and puts on 
just as her brother does. It is needless to say 
that she attracts ridicule wherever she goes. 
Such peculiarities are most disadvantageous to 
a girl, especially if she is in business of any kind 
or engaged in a profession. People wish to 
deal either with a man or a woman, never with a 
caricature of either. 

Great care should be taken to adapt the cloth- 



WHAT GIRLS WEAR 33 

ing to the climate and the weather, especially 
in the early spring days. May-day always 
brings visions of the cold ; raw weather that we 
have all experienced so often in trying to carry 
out May-day frolics. You may object that wool 
is too irritating to your skin. Then get a soft, 
fine quality, or some material in which wool is 
combined with silk or cotton. In the summer- 
time a very light-weight wool is a great protec- 
tion, even in tropical climates. 

Linen is the coolest of our ordinary materials, 
being a good conductor of heat, allowing it to 
pass off quickly from the body. Smooth-sur- 
faced goods, closely woven, are cooler than 
soft, furry fabrics. The latter, even though 
made of cotton, are warm on account of their 
weave. 

As far as possible dyes in clothing that comes 
next to the skin should be avoided. As to colors, 
white is the coolest, and for this reason is very 
much worn in warm weather. Then come yellow, 
red, green, blue, and black. 

Avoid all extremes of fashions. Exaggeration 
in dress is always vulgar. Study your person- 
ality in regard to dress. Do not sit down and 
think how plain you are, but learn to bring out 
your good points by wearing becoming clothing. 



34 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

If you have no faculty at all for this yourself, go 
to some one who possesses the gift and get her 
to help you out. Certainly there is some friend 
with an artistic sense who will know what best 
suits you in hats and gowns. When you have 
found a becoming style, do not be too anxious to 
change it. There is never any advantage in 
following the extreme of fashion, especially if it 
is not becoming to you. This does not mean 
that you should defy fashion, for there is hardly 
one of us who can afford to do that. 

One of the worst faults in clothing is to have 
it too tight. Very tight clothing interferes 
with the circulation. It does not allow for 
proper ventilation of the skin. If clothing is 
so snug as to retain carbon dioxide and the waste 
organic matter, it will not be long before the 
functions of the skin are disturbed, and the body 
made a prey to disease. Ventilation of the 
skin is most important. The proper exposure 
of the body surface to comparatively low tem- 
perature is as valuable a general tonic as is the 
application of cool water to the skin. The air 
bath supplies this need. There should be a 
circulation of air under the clothing sufficient 
to dilute and disperse the insensible perspiration, 
the effete organic matter and the carbon dioxide. 






WHAT GIRLS WEAR 35 

All garments that are suspended should fall 
either directly or indirectly from the shoulders 
or the hips. 

Opinions concerning the advantages and dis- 
advantages of wearing corsets differ very widely. 
Many good authorities believe that there is no 
harm in the modern, scientifically made, straight- 
front corset. But be careful that it is scientifi- 
cally made, and that it fits. 

Tight waistbands help to make ugly hips and 
prominent abdomens. The wearing of tight 
collars and stocks results in scrawny necks, and 
often leads to severe troubles of the throat. 
Tight garters leave in their wake many serious 
consequences; and tight gloves produce ugly, 
red, cold hands; while tight, ill-fitting, high 
heeled shoes torture the girl who is foolish enough 
to wear them. Red noses are very often the 
result of impaired circulation, due to clothing 
that is too tight. 



GIRLS WHO "COME TO PIECES" IN 
PUBLIC 

Not long ago, at a Glee Club concert, I sat 
behind a girl with delicately tinted cheeks. 
This might possibly have passed unobserved had 
she not also touched up the lobes of her ears to 
correspond. I watched these two spots for 
some moments, but the heightened color remained 
the same. I was convinced, and then looked 
for other evidences of the make-up. They stood 
out one by one. On looking across her cheek, 
as it was turned to the light, there was that 
characteristic appearance always present after 
the use of powder. The eyebrows were distinctly 
penciled, and although she was not a " bleached 
blonde," still her hair had been " lightened," 
as could be seen from the contrasting dark- 
ness of the roots. She might have been a 
pretty girl, but as it was she was most unattrac- 
tive. 

Perhaps the artificial touches to a toilette are 



GIRLS WHO " COME TO PIECES " 37 

more frequently evident in a large city than they 
are in smaller towns. However this may be, I 
never go out on the street without noticing a 
goodly number of girls who make this mistake. 
To be sure, many times these little artifices are 
most skilfully manipulated; they will, neverthe- 
less, be detected by the trained eye. 

Such toilettes always raise a question in the 
mind of the observer. You have the disappro- 
bation of your own sex when you do these things, 
but to a man they are revolting. " Do you know," 
said a man to me the other day, " that when I 
find I'm out with a girl who is painted, it gives 
me the gruesome feeling that I am walking 
around with a wooden Indian, — like the old 
fashioned ones they used to have in front of the 
cigar stores." It cannot be pleasant to a dainty 
girl to feel that she has put on such a coating of 
" complexion " that it can be rubbed off on 
the handkerchief. 

Fresh is the memory of my father's annoyance 
when, in girlhood days on starting out to walk 
with him, I fastened up the buttons of my gloves 
after closing the door behind me. I have 
noticed in many men the same evidence of 
annoyance regarding the finishing of a girl's 
toilette in public. And another of their pet 



38 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

complaints is that some girls are always " coming 
to pieces." 

One who arrives early at the theatre has 
leisure to observe many of these idiosyncrasies, 
as well as various mannerisms that go with them. 
One girl will be running side-combs through her 
hair; another will be rearranging hairpins and 
patting her aigrette. 

Still another girl, as she walks down the aisle, 
grasps her skirt at such an angle that the placket 
gapes widely. And, oh, the innumerable belts 
that do not make connections! And the multi- 
tude of safety-pins that are exposed to the public 
gaze! And corresponding in numbers to the 
misplaced belts and pins, the wearers futilely 
struggling to get them into place! 

Now and then a girl finds it necessary to 
fasten her blouse in public, and I have even 
seen a schoolgirl on a shopping expedition 
rearrange her shield. Such a thing seems 
incredible, but it is only too true. She was 
attending school in New York, and was called 
by her teachers " that awful girl." They were 
always in terror as to what she would do next. 

What a common sight it is, especially in the 
summer, to see a man fastening up the lacings of 
his companion's shoes. If you do not know how 



GIRLS WHO " COME TO PIECES " 39 

to tie shoe-laces so that they will not become 
loose, any shoe clerk will tell you. 

These things are so common that they are 
a matter of public comment, and are always 
very noticeable where there are many girls 
together. This is, unfortunately, only too appar- 
ent in girls' schools and colleges. 

The Dean of a very large college in one of our 
great cities considers this subject of such import- 
ance that he makes a yearly appeal to his 
students, bringing their attention to these 
matters in detail, at a students' mass meeting 
called by him for the purpose. 

The mother of one girl, when taking her 
daughter to college, was so impressed by the 
untidiness of many of the older girls that, 
drawing her daughter to one side, she gravely 
remarked that if any of these evidences of 
neglect were noticeable in the girl when she 
came home for the Christmas vacation, she 
would be taken out of college permanently. 

Many girls say, as an excuse for carelessness 
in dress: " No one knows me in this part of the 
country, so it does not make any difference how 
I look." This is the plea of many Americans 
abroad, who have thus given an undesirable 
reputation to the manners of our country-women, 



40 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

It is probably because of this feeling that 
carelessness in appearance or manners is some- 
times observed in high places, but it is never 
safe to think that " no one sees me." A woman 
of international reputation was observed riding 
in a street-car with a toothpick in her mouth, 
that she used diligently from time to time. Too 
careful attention cannot be given to the toilette 
of the teeth, the nose, and ears before leaving 
your own room. 

And this reminds me of another thing: some 
girls think that it is sufficient to wash a soiled 
face, leaving the neck and ears with the dis- 
tinctly visible high- water mark. But you may 
say: " I have never seen these horrible things.' ' 
Then it is because you are not observant- 
Fastidious men depend upon their barbers to 
complete many of the little niceties of their 
toilette, such as the extraction of blackheads 
from the ears, and other details that are impos- 
sible for one to attend to by one's self. It is no 
less necessary for a girl to be overlooked, at 
least occasionally, by a professional attendant. 

Avoid such little mannerisms as handling the 
face, scratching the head, pulling on the hair, 
biting the nails, rubbing the nose, and other 
similar tricks, which, when once indulged in, 



GIRLS WHO " COME TO PIECES " 41 

become habitual, especially when one is absorbed. 
Such habits are disgusting to those around you, 
and detract very seriously from the charm of a 
refined woman. 

Men often pass judgment as to girls' capacity 
for housekeeping on no more important evidence 
than the wearing of run-down heels. It is a 
trite, but still true comment that many girls 
who have exquisite taste in dress as far as gowns, 
coats, and hats are concerned, fail when it comes 
to the details of shoes and gloves. It is a 
common occurrence to walk behind a beautifully 
gowned girl, whose shoes are unspeakably shabby, 
worn off at the heel, unblackened, and minus 
several buttons. 

Other girls do not hesitate to wear skirts 
with ragged edges, braid pinned on with safety- 
pins, tattered dust ruffles, especially if they are 
silk, and soiled ruchings. A certain mother 
said, when her daughter asked if she thought 
a collar " would do " to wear again: " If there is 
any question about it, put it in the laundry." 

You may think this attention to details very 
tiresome and carelessness concerning them unde- 
serving of so much criticism. If this is your 
attitude, you would better change your point 
of view. A girl of my acquaintance, who was 



42 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

engaged to a young man when she entered 
college, caused him so much discomfiture by 
her carelessness in personal appearance, that 
his mother made a journey to the college every 
two weeks for the purpose of getting the fiancee's 
wardrobe mix) some kind of order. The task 
became so hopeless that the engagement was 
finally broken. And who will say that it was 
not justified? 



VI 

FEET AND SHOES 

Ever since babyhood days we have been told 
that the well-shaped, well-shod foot is a most 
important sign of good-breeding. But how many 
of us are trained to recognize a perfect foot? 
Too many girls judge of the foot by the shoe. 
And the ordinary standard of a beautiful shoe 
is the type worn by a French woman in her 
carriage or at home. Not stopping to reason, 
we Americans straightway follow after like a 
flock of sheep, donning this tiny, high-heeled 
foot-covering for the hard work of daily wear. 

In these days of distorted feet, distorted 
foot-wear, and distorted ideas, it is so difficult 
to find a perfect foot, that we are obliged, per- 
force, to go back to the ancient statues to dis- 
cover a worthy model. The next day you go 
down town, look in the window of an art store 
for the winged Mercury, Venus, or the Apollo 
Belvedere. Then can you examine a perfect 
foot to your heart's content. 

At night, after taking off the stockings, spread 



44 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

your toes out. I mean this literally; can you 
spread them or have they lost their muscular 
power? Note how far they have strayed from 
the strong, beautiful type with which Nature 
has endowed most of us. 

A baby's foot is not yet disfigured by the 
modern shoe, and although its outlines are some- 
what padded by layers of fat, the marks of 
perfection stand out clearly. Baby's foot may 
be classed with that seen in ancient statuary. 
The great toe stands out by itself, a distinct 
interval showing between it and its neighbor. 
The direction of this toe is either straight for- 
ward, or a little inward. There is given no 
chance then for the prominence of the " bunion " 
joint. The other toes, straight and symmetrical, 
are tipped with pearly-rose nails. In the most 
beautiful type of foot, the instep is high with 
graceful arch; the softly rounded heel delicately 
tinted. Not many girls of this age of " civiliza- 
tion " can lay claim to such a member. As to 
the size, do not let that trouble you, for feet to 
serve us well must be large enough to carry their 
burden without weariness. 

It is worth while to examine not only the 
shape of baby's foot, but the movements of the 
toes as well. Down they bend, then up. Again 



FEET AND SHOES 45 

they spread apart. When the child is old 
enough to walk, the toes practically dig into 
the ground. With the toes, too, baby is able 
to grasp objects. A most marked contrast is 
seen in the foot of the grown-up. Instead of 
flexibility and the power of spreading apart, 
the toes are generally crowded together, and 
practically powerless to perform any of the 
movements for which they were made. The 
adult foot has indeed been well likened to a 
shoemaker's last. 

Some of you have doubtless seen unfortunates 
born without arms, who have substituted for 
this loss marvelously trained feet. In an art 
gallery in Antwerp, some years ago, I saw such a 
man. He cheerfully filled up the working hours 
by painting with his feet. Others similarly 
afflicted have developed the foot muscles to 
such a wonderful degree that they have been 
able to write, play ball, paint, dress themselves, 
and do countless other kinds of useful work. 

In school days we learned that the foot con- 
sists of twenty-six bones, various muscles, liga- 
ments, and joints. Naturally, if the bones are 
displaced, if the muscles lose their strength, if 
the ligaments are over-stretched, the foot will 
be weakened and disabled to such an extent 



46 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

that it cannot perform its work. We have 
already spoken of the arch of the instep, but there 
is another arch across the foot just back of the 
toes. This structure relieves from jar the joints 
above, and preserves from injury the nerves, 
blood-vessels, and other delicate tissues lying 
under the instep. Muscles in the sole of the foot 
act like a bow-string, resisting the tendency of 
the body-weight to break down the arch. 

When the foot is crowded into an up-to-date 
shoe, the muscles are first hampered, and finally 
rendered almost powerless. Then do the toes 
lose their freedom of action, and the foot be- 
comes hardly better than a mere pedestal. And 
the " pedestal walk " develops. For one of the 
principles of a" good " foot is the healthy con- 
dition of the muscles. Is it then any wonder 
that a foot so abused becomes unable to do its 
work? Is it strange that the ligaments give way, 
allowing the bones to become displaced? Is it 
remarkable that the foot loses its spring, becom- 
ing weak and flat? Are you surprised that you 
cannot walk with comfort any more? 

The widest part of the perfect foot is at the 
toes. A glance at your own shoe will convince 
you whether these " willing servitors " of yours 
have been clothed comfortably, or have been 



FEET AND SHOES 47 

" adorned " with the so-called " prison cells of 
pride." The usual modern shoe is narrowest 
across the toes. This shape is responsible for 
many bunions, for in such a shoe the great toe is 
crowded against its neighbor, thus throwing into 
prominence the joint at its base. 

As to high heels, if you are interested to see 
their effect in your own case, get a block of wood 
shaped like the ordinary " French heel." Stand 
in front of a mirror, with one bare foot flat on the 
floor, and put the block under the heel of the other. 
In place of the entire sole, excepting the arch, 
bearing the body weight, the ball of the " high- 
heeled foot " bears most of the weight, only a 
little being thrown on the heel. The arch is 
greatly exaggerated, with severe straining of the 
muscles and consequent pain. 

In X-ray pictures representing the same foot; 
first in an ordinary French shoe, then in a sensi- 
ble shoe,the difference in length, by actual meas- 
urement with a tape, is shown to be one-half an 
inch, the shorter foot of course being that in the 
high-heeled shoe. The height of the instep is 
increased three-fourths of an inch; while the heel 
of this foot is raised above the ground an inch 
and a half. 

The girl who habitually wears such shoes be- 



48 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

comes easily tired. Naturally she grows irri- 
table and nervous. On account of the uptilted 
heels, the upper part of the body is thrown for- 
ward. Good position for deep breathing is im- 
possible, for shoulders sag forward and chest sinks 
in. The upper parts of the lungs do not get 
their share of pure air, and offer good ground 
for the germ of tuberculosis. The effects of 
wearing high-heeled shoes are indeed far-reach- 
ing. 

Many " cure-all " devices troop forward for 
flat-foot. " You certainly have rheumatism of 
the feet," says one; " You need a course of bath 
treatments," says another; while a third pro- 
nounces his dictum: " Dislocation of one of the 
vertebrae is accountable for all this trouble in 
the feet." And so the victim of flat-foot is tossed 
from pillar to post. She is fortunate if she early 
falls into the hands of one familiar with both the 
trouble and the measures for its relief. This 
condition in its first stages is not correctly diag- 
nosed in fifty per cent of the cases. Among the 
early symptoms is a feeling of weariness and 
vague discomfort, although there is no definite 
pain. When this weakness is first felt, it is no- 
ticed only after standing some time. Resting or 
walking relieves it. Later there is aching, often 



FEET AND SHOES 49 

lessened by walking on the outer side of the 
foot. 

The girl with flat-foot now begins to observe 
advertisements flaunted everywhere for the cure 
of rheumatism of the feet. It is well to remember 
that although rheumatism and gout are among 
the predisposing causes, the presence of these 
diseases can always be detected by symptoms 
elsewhere in the body. The treatment of flat- 
foot belongs in the hands of an orthopedic 
surgeon who has made a careful study of the 
condition. 

A most helpful measure for one suffering 
from flat-foot is the tiptoe exercise. Spring 
to the toes, then rhythmically drop to ordi- 
nary standing position. Nothing so relieves 
feet strained from standing as springing to 
tiptoe. Practise this with feet bare when 
possible. 

Tracings of footsteps along a straight line show 
the angle at which the foot is turned. You can 
easily see this for yourself by making a chalk line 
on a bare floor. The best position, with feet 
pointed straight ahead or nearly so, is the strong- 
est one, in which the arch is firmest. It has 
been called the four square position, for a tracing 
around the feet will form a square, bringing to 



50 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

mind " A tower that stood four square to every 
wind that blew." In countries where people 
carry burdens on the head, and where they are 
accustomed to walk barefoot, the straight-foot 
position is the common attitude. Then is the 
body perfectly balanced. 

Troubles of the feet are far more common and 
cause more suffering and injury to the general 
health than most people realize. " Keep your 
feet dry, warm, and free from blemishes " is 
one of the foundation stones of good health and 
comeliness. 

Stockings often do as much harm to the feet as 
shoes, for if too small they may exert pressure 
sufficient to deform the foot. Stockings should 
have a separate pocket for the great toe. The 
wearing of fresh stockings daily is one prevent- 
ive of cold feet. 

But how about corns and bunions? The old 
Latin name for corn was nail. A corn is in 
reality a nail of horn, for in shape it resembles a 
cone, and is made up of cells like those of the 
outside horny layer of skin. The point of this 
horny nail is directed downward, pressing on 
the nerves and delicate tissues. No wonder it 
hurts! Of all methods of treating corns, cutting 
is the worst. The pressure that has caused the 



FEET AND SHOES 51 

corn must first be removed. After this is done, 
rare is the corn that will not succumb to a nightly 
water dressing or bread-poultice. Another simple 
measure consists in soaking the feet twice a 
day in warm water containing a little baking- 
soda. It is a well-known fact that bottle- 
washers, whose hands are in such a solution 
hours at a time, have their nails almost destroyed. 
In writing this I am well aware that many 
sufferers will not try this method because it is too 
simple. Another objection is that it costs noth- 
ing. Nor does it offer the satisfaction of using 
drugs ! 

And bunions? Here, too, pressure must be 
removed, the toes straightened into normal 
position, and kept there. In order to cure 
bunions and corns, then, we must hark back to 
proper stockings and shoes. 

But as some one has truly said: " Vanity and 
common sense are unevenly matched foes." 



VII 

THE SHAMPOO AND OTHER THINGS 

While in a hairdresser's shop the other day 
with a friend who wished to have a switch made of 
her own combings, I was much impressed by the 
reply of the proprietor, who said: " We never 
use American hair in any of our work; it never 
wears well. All of our hair we import from 
Europe, most of it coming from the heads of the 
peasants." These statements set me to thinking, 
for it is only too true that American girls are 
greatly troubled with disorders of the scalp. 

One of the great secrets of the whole trouble is 
that girls do not give enough time and systematic 
care to the hair. To be sure, the modern, high- 
strung American is not apt to have such a 
luxuriant growth of hair as the stolid, phlegmatic, 
European peasant, for nervous people as a rule 
have less heavy heads of hair than their sisters 
of the opposite temperament. It is all the more 
necessary, then, that you assist Nature in caring 
for your crowning glory. Even in the every- 
day routine great injury is done to the hair, and 



THE SHAMPOO 53 

such treatment kept up for three hundred and 
sixty-five or seven hundred and thirty or ten 
hundred and ninety-five times a year is sure to 
show its results after a while. 

It is often said that statistics are of no special 
value, but if I could gather all of you about me 
to take a peep into the letters that come to me day 
by day, you could not fail to be impressed by 
the number that ask concerning the care of the 
hair in its every detail. 

Although the loss of fifty or sixty hairs every 
day is perfectly normal, nevertheless moulting 
seasons for the hair are not normal. The results 
from the ordinary way in which a girl combs her 
hair would make one fancy that such was the 
case. In order to keep hair vigorous and in 
good condition, it must be cared for with great 
gentleness. 

There are so many of us that we can offer all 
shades, from the old-fashioned towhead to the 
blue-black of the raven's wing. In the olden 
times the color of the hair was considered a mark 
of temperament; the black-haired person was 
supposed to have a " bilious temperament " and 
to be strong and vigorous. The light-haired 
individual was thought to have the " lymphatic 
temperament," weak and indolent. Light hair 



54 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

was considered a beauty, but it also indicated 
weakness, and its owner was supposed to need 
protection; while the brunette, with brown or 
black hair, showed strength and vivacity. The 
possessor of deep red hair was called sanguine, 
having a violent temper. It has been noted 
that the oil in red hair often has a strong odor. 
There is considerable oxide of iron in black hair, 
and sulphur is found in greater quantities in red 
or in light hair than in black. 

But it is not alone in color that variations 
occur, for one girl will have an oily scalp, while 
another has a dry one: one has fine, silky hair, 
that distracts its owner by matting down and 
lying close to the head, while fluffiness is the 
bewitching characteristic of another, envied by 
all her sisters. This girl is apt to say compla- 
cently, when the subject is broached: " Yes, I 
suppose I am fortunate in having curly hair, 
though I never think much about it till I see 
the other girls struggling with curling-irons and 
crimping-pins." 

The question " How often shall I wash my 
hair? " is very old yet ever new. The harm 
sometimes attributed to the shampoo depends 
not so much upon the frequency as upon the 
method. At the medical school our professor 



THE SHAMPOO 55 

of dermatology once said: " It stands to reason 
that if the face must be washed frequently to 
keep it clean, so must the scalp. The scalp 
does not differ essentially from the skin of other 
parts of the body; it needs intelligent treatment, 
that is all." 

If you are exposed to much dust, or if you 
happen to live in a " soft coal country," then 
your hair will need more frequent shampooing 
than will that of the girl who lives in the heart of 
the Adirondacks. The girl who is a stay-at- 
home in a country where hard coal or wood is 
burned will not need to wash her hair nearly so 
often as the girl who lives in a busy city, where 
soft coal soot floats about; nor as often as she 
whose business calls her into the suburbs on fre- 
quent railroad journeys. Neither will the girl 
with dry hair have to shampoo it as often as the 
one with an oily scalp. 

You can see, then, that the hair might be 
washed under certain circumstances once or 
twice a week, or you might be able to keep it 
fresh and sweet by means of brushing, dry sham- 
pooing, and sun and air baths for a month, with- 
out a regular shampoo. As a rule, I think that 
once in two w r eeks is not too often. 

If the scalp is healthy, a shampoo of hot soap- 



56 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

suds will cleanse it. Use the purest unscented 
soap that you can find. With the finger-tips rub 
the suds thoroughly into the scalp and through the 
hair. Thus you will avoid making the hair 
sticky — a condition almost sure to follow when 
the cake of soap itself is rubbed on the hair. 

You can also massage the scalp gently but 
firmly. Circulation is thus stimulated, and there 
is no better way of nourishing the hair than by 
causing the blood to course vigorously through 
its vessels. Now is a good time for moving the 
scalp back and forth on the tissues underneath; 
the scalp-bound girl will do well to remember 
this. If the hair is thick and heavy, or long, fol- 
low the plan of arranging it in loose plaits before 
shampooing. Discouraging tangles and snarls 
that so commonly follow the shampoo are really 
not necessary if the proper care is taken during 
manipulation. 

Many girls rub the hair on itself while attempt- 
ing to massage the scalp. Friction is good for 
the scalp but not for the hair. A professional 
shampooer systematically parts the hair along 
every inch of the scalp, beginning at the crown. 
In this way she is sure not to miss any part of it. 
This method is easily followed at home. 

After the scalp is thoroughly gone over, the 



THE SHAMPOO 57 

hair itself needs attention. Again, remember! 
Use the suds only. Wash the braids gently be- 
tween your hands. You are lucky if there is 
some one to do this for you, for however thin or 
short your hair may be, there is no doubt but 
that some one else can shampoo it better than 
you can yourself. I have often known of girls 
who have exchanged this service for each other. 

And now for the rinsing. And this can hardly 
be too thorough. Do not economize either in 
water or in time in this part of the shampoo. 
Hair is often imperfectly rinsed after the using of 
several waters, even including the spray. The 
last two or three waters should be gradually 
cooled, so that the pores will contract and there 
will be less danger of taking cold. Sometimes a 
little alcohol rubbed into the scalp at the end will 
accomplish the same purpose. But after all, the 
glow that follows the brisk manipulation of the 
scalp with the balls of the fingers is the best pre- 
ventive of any unhappy after effects of the 
shampoo. 

The method of drying by the hot air blast is 
falling into disrepute; for after it the hair be- 
comes dry and lifeless. Shaking the hair in the 
sun and gently rubbing its strands through 
soft, warm, smooth, lintless towels will leave 



58 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

it in the best condition, and with a lustre that 
no other treatment will give. Some people use 
a linen Turkish towel instead of the ordinary one 
with great satisfaction. Half-worn, soft towels 
with a smooth surface are also excellent. 

The best effects of a shampoo can never be 
gained on cloudy, damp, or rainy days. The 
sun has a great deal to do with the condition of 
the hair, and that is one reason why the hair 
should never be washed at night. Sometimes 
hearing is permanently affected by carelessness 
in this regard. Hair ought never to be " done 
up" until it is perfectly dried. Wetting the 
hair to make it smooth is apt to cause injury 
at the roots. 

Many up-to-date hairdressers use the " hot 
water brush " for drying the hair, declaring its 
effects to be most satisfactory. The brush is 
made of metal; the " bristles " are small tubes, 
containing the hot water which is poured into the 
empty back. The handle is then screwed on, 
and you have an apparatus that distributes 
warmth throughout the mass of the hair, quickly 
drying it. 

If your complaint is a dry scalp, then at the 
end of the shampoo get some one to spray the 
scalp and hair ends with a little sweet oil from 



THE SHAMPOO 59 

an atomizer. A good shampoo lotion may be 
made by shaking up one ounce of green soap 
with twice the amount of cologne water. 

Should the ordinary shampoo not be convenient, 
some time when you are traveling, or when the 
weather is persistently gloomy, freshen up the 
hair by taking a dry shampoo. There is nothing 
better for this purpose than pulverized orris 
root. Part the hair at half-inch spaces and 
sprinkle the powder generously on the scalp and 
through the hair, letting it stay for half an hour; 
then brush it out. 

Indian meal will be just as cleansing, but its 
odor is not so attractive. 

Just a word here to the girl who goes to the 
professional shampooer. Always use your own 
brush and comb, which you will, of course, keep 
clean and sweet. Many evils follow careless 
habits so common in this regard. 

Gray or white hair must be kept scrupulously 
clean to be attractive, for perspiration makes it 
smeary and yellow. The curling iron, too, tends 
to give it a yellow tinge. In shampooing white 
hair, it is well to add a little bluing to the last 
rinsing water. Experience will teach the right 
proportion for one's own tint of hair. Use just 
enough to make the hair a pure white. 



60 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

Scalp massage has already been referred to, 
and one of the best movements is that suggested 
to the scalp-bound girl. The scalp should be 
kept soft and flexible, so that it can be easily 
moved over the skull. By this massage, and 
by the stimulation of circulation, both of which 
can be accomplished in a few moments every 
night before retiring, the scalp can be kept in 
healthy and vigorous condition. 

There are various other movements advised. 
Brace the thumbs against the face just in front 
of the ears, then, with the finger-tips making 
little circles, start from the edge of the hair 
about the temples, moving firmly up to the 
crown of the head. Next, rest the thumbs near 
the crown of the head, and make the tiny circles 
with the finger-tips from the forehead to the 
crown. Once more, place the balls of the thumbs 
in front of the ears, and work with the finger-tips 
from the crown down to the nape of the neck. 
In this way the entire scalp will have been 
covered. 

Again, steady the head against one hand, and 
work with the finger-tips of the other hand from 
the crown to the hair line. A movement with 
both hands is accomplished by laying the palms 
flat on the sides of the head above the ears, with 



THE SHAMPOO 61 

the fingers pointing backward. Lift the scalp 
firmly while the whole hand makes large circles. 
This movement may be applied to different parts 
of the head. It is suitable for the young and 
vigorous, but should not be tried on the old and 
feeble. You will soon learn to move the scalp 
only, and not to injure the hair by undue fric- 
tion. If you have the opportunity, go to a prac- 
tical masseuse for a few lessons. This is the 
surest and easiest way to learn the knack of 
scalp massage. 

But now comes a question from one of our num- 
ber who, though still young, finds her hair grad- 
ually turning. I have read somewhere of a cele- 
brated American physician who said that the 
best thing to be done when the hair begins to 
turn gray is to admire it. Truly this is the 
most sensible thing to do. If you are still young 
and find a white hair here and there, I would 
advise you to pay special attention to the care of 
your hair as well as to your health in general. 
Then let the hair take its own course, for dyes 
are not only apparent; they are many times 
positively injurious. 

So much has been written about the effect of 
one's general health upon the appearance of the 
hair that I hesitate even to refer to such a thread- 



62 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

bare phase of the subject. However, let me tell 
you of a most interesting article written not long 
since by an English scientist on the means of pro- 
longing life. He declared that he had observed 
individuals with whitening hair who, after hav- 
ing devoted several weeks in the summer to an 
outdoor life, especially mountain climbing, had 
been rejoiced on coming home to notice that the 
hair was returning to its original color. 

Another authority declares that systematic 
deep breathing will soon show its good effects 
upon the condition of the hair, keeping at bay the 
blanching spectre. After all, this does not seem 
far-fetched, when it is considered that the hair 
must share in the general state of the health. 
Deep breathing is merely a method of prolong- 
ing life by feeding the body with oxygen. Why 
should not the stimulation of this life-giving ele- 
ment ascend to the hair, imparting its regenera- 
ting effect. In any case, deep breathing is 
always beneficial, and its effects can but be 
good. 

If the hair will turn despite all precautions, 
make the best of it. Some of the most strikingly 
beautiful women one ever sees are those whose 
hair has prematurely lost its color. Nature is as 
skilful in harmonizing our color schemes as she is 



THE SHAMPOO 63 

in harmonizing those of the trees and flowers. 
We shall do well to follow her leading. 

The hair needs local airing and sunning just as 
much as the lungs need oxygen, but the sunning 
must not be overdone, for it is very possible to 
fade the hair by exposing it for too long a time 
to the brilliant rays of the sun, especially when 
one is near the water in summer. The scalp is as 
susceptible to sunburn as is the skin of the face 
and hands; in cases of thin hair the danger is 
greater than when there is an abundant suit. 

You are well aware that in the case of an ani- 
mal, a dog or a horse, for instance, the hair imme- 
diately shows the effect of ill health. Many 
times, in the case of falling hair, the first step to 
restore its beauty, is to build up the general 
health. Since hair is a form of skin, does it seem 
strange that proper diet, plenty of outdoor exer- 
cise, deep breathing and frequent bathing, all 
have a very great influence on its beauty? 



VIII 

A TALK ABOUT SUPERFLUOUS HAIR, 

HAIR REMOVERS, AND HAIR 

TONICS 

Many girls who are tempted to try depila- 
tories — hair removers — so freely advertised 
throughout our land, may like an insight into 
the nature of such preparations. These nos- 
trums are ofttimes made up with certain pro- 
portions of lime. In many instances the remedy 
is a paste, and directions are given for rubbing 
it over the afflicted parts, letting it remain a few 
moments, after which it is to be scraped off 
with a dull-edged spatula; you are promised that 
the hairs will come off at the same time. Perhaps 
they will, but what good have you accomplished? 
Your great desire is to kill this ugly growth, and 
the only way possible of accomplishing the 
result is to destroy the hair papilla. 

The application of the paste has at best des- 
troyed only the part of the hair that you can 
see. It has not affected the root, and presto! 



SUPERFLUOUS HAIR 65 

in a few days you have a growth that is coarser 
and more beardlike than before. 

Perhaps, instead of using some " secret rem- 
edy," you prefer to go to an " institution," where 
all of these defects are " magically " removed 
by " skilled doctors." Hundreds of thousands 
of dollars are yearly expended in advertising 
by men who own and conduct these establish- 
ments. The girls who go to these places for 
treatment are helping to pay for these advertise- 
ments. Very often the " doctors " who are 
employed are unscientific men working for very 
small salaries, who were not able to get along 
by themselves in the legitimate practice of 
medicine. As a rule they are incompetent and 
do not give any satisfaction whatever, for they 
have neither the anatomical knowledge nor the 
skill that comes from experience in treating 
such troubles. 

The girl who goes to them for the removal 
of superfluous hair soon sees a new crop appear, 
and the method — electrolysis — is then blamed, 
rather than the advertisers. 

In the hands of the most skilled physicians 
almost no scars are caused by electrolysis and 
hardly any pain. Pain comes from the use of 
improper batteries — the strong street current 



66 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

often being used in the work — and from the 
use of improper methods. 

Do the hairs ever return after proper treatment 
by electrolysis? A certain proportion of hairs, 
from one-half to one-eighth of those removed, 
will probably return, though I have known of 
fifty hairs being removed at one sitting with a 
return of only two. However, as only a pro- 
portion of the hairs removed will return, a 
limited number of treatments is sure to eradicate 
them entirely. 

Oftentimes, when hairs have been pulled out 
and cut off repeatedly, the irritation has so 
strengthened the root that only a part of it is 
killed by the first treatment. 

Cutting, shaving, and pulling out the hairs, do 
to a certain extent stimulate them. The hair 
is never again as silky, glossy, and fine as it was 
in the first place. It assumes a more masculine 
aspect. The hairs take a firmer hold. Any- 
thing that produces a redness — that is, that 
calls more blood to the parts — has a tendency 
to make the hair grow. 

Finally, the application of certain so-called 
" skin foods " is sometimes followed by stimula- 
tion of the hair, whether the oil in the cream is 
animal or vegetable. 



SUPERFLUOUS HAIR 67 

In investigating the subject of " hair removers," 
I began to hear about the so-called " hair 
tonics," and it was not long before I realized 
two truths: first, that, for the most part, many 
of these " hair tonics " are perfectly worthless, 
and, second, that when they are not worthless 
many are dangerous. I was surprised at the 
prices charged for these " tonics," and deter- 
mined, by the friendly aid of a chemist, to find 
out how much they cost to make and what they 
were sold for. Here is a list of six of them: 
The first sold for seventy-four cents; it cost to 
make six cents. The second sold for eighty- two 
cents; it cost to make eight cents. The third 
sold for one dollar; it cost to make eleven cents. 
The fourth sold for one dollar; it cost to make 
nine cents. The fifth sold for one dollar; it 
cost to make twelve cents. The sixth sold for 
one dollar; it cost to make eleven cents. 

One " hair tonic," selling for one dollar, 
contained: water, six ounces; borax, one drachm; 
and one teaspoonful of rock salt. This was 
colored with a little carmine, and the cost of 
making it was about three cents. Yet this is 
one of the most popular " hair tonics " on the 
market, and eagerly bought by thousands of 
girls and women! 



68 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

I happened to know a doctor in New York 
who was a skin specialist, and I was told that 
scores of girls and women go to him each year to 
undo the ravages and serious results that accrue 
from the use of hair " restorers " and " tonics." 
I asked this doctor if he ever had occasion to 
treat any cases where hair " restorers " had actu- 
ally poisoned girls and women. 

" Not only have I such cases constantly," said 
the physician, " but that girl who has just left my 
office, and whom you saw being supported b}^ a 
maid, was partly paralyzed from the use of a 
very well-known ' hair-renewer,' so called. I 
have a patient who used a ' hair wash ' that 
poisoned her. It began with an eruption on the 
parts where the ' wash ' had been applied. An- 
other girl I am now treating was silly enough to 
use a preparation which, it was alleged, would 
bleach her hair. She developed a severe case of 
inflammation of the scalp, face and neck, and is 
now suffering from neuralgia. 

A girl in a fashionable millinery store wanted 
to color her hair a Titian red, so she bought 
a dye that was put up in two bottles. It was 
not the first time that she had used this prep- 
aration, and as she had never before experienced 
any trouble from it she had no fears about apply- 



SUPERFLUOUS HAIR 69 

ing it again. A patch of eczema, however, ap- 
peared on her scalp; it spread and spread till not 
only the scalp was one mass of eruption, but the 
loathsome disease finally extended over her en- 
tire body. For three weeks the girl was unable 
to leave her room, and several months elapsed 
before the trouble was cured. 

One reason why we do not hear more about 
the evil effects of hair dyes is that the girls who 
use these preparations are very sensitive about 
speaking of their effects. Even when poisoned, 
such girls will go quietly to a doctor for relief, 
and the tale of woe travels no further. 

" I cannot imagine," said this doctor, " what 
possesses women to run such risks by tampering 
with these dangerous preparations for the hair." 

" A woman's hair is very dear to her," I ven- 
tured. 

" Exactly," he returned, " and that is why I 
marvel at her willingness to risk the danger of 
these preparations." 

" You think, then," I asked this man who 
knows, " that many of these hair ' lotions,' 
1 tonics,' and so on, are divided into the two 
classes: the one dangerous and the other worth- 
less? " 

" Absolutely," he replied with decision. " I 



70 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

have analyzed many of them, because I have had 
cases come to me from the use of almost every 
preparation on the market. And there is not a 
single one, not one, that I have ever come across 
that is worth two cents or that is not dangerous. " 

" Why are they useless? " I asked. 

" Well, take what are called ' hair removers. ' 
The best authorities state that those preparations 
act only on the hair above the surface, not on the 
roots. They destroy the shaft well down into 
the hair follicle only. None of them destroys 
the hair papilla. Therefore they constitute only a 
closer kind of shaving, but, as they cause more irri- 
tation than shaving, their final effects are worse. 
The hair, of course, returns, and returns stronger 
than ever, for, as every man can tell you, shav- 
ing stimulates the growth of the hair. The 
same way with these ' hair removers.' A woman 
might just as well shave herself as to use these 
1 removers.' And shaving would be a thousand 
times safer." 

" And the others are dangerous because — " 
I continued. 

" Because they contain either lead or other 
metallic substances which are poisonous, or they 
have in them a strong caustic alkali that irritates 
the skin. The whole business should be forbid- 



SUPERFLUOUS HAIR 71 

den by law, since women do not seem to be able 
to shun the use of these things, dangerous as they 
are." 

" Then what shall a woman do if her hair be- 
gins to fall out or turn gray? ". I ventured. 

" Go to a reputable doctor, for such a condition 
may often have nothing to do with the hair. It 
may be due to some irregularity of the system, 
some impoverishment of the blood, some defect 
of the circulation. The result is shown in the 
hair, but the trouble does not lie there. That 
lies in the body, and a woman can go on until 
doomsday using a ' hair tonic,' a ' restorer ' or 
what not and it will not reach the seat of the 
trouble. She is not well physically; her body is 
ailing — not her hair; it only shows there." 

And, from all the inquiries I could make, ex- 
tending over several months of careful work and 
investigation, I found the words of this doctor to 
be all too true. There can be no question of the 
danger or worthlessness of many of these hair 
remedies. A woman undoubtedly either wastes 
her money in the purchase of them, — and that 
is the least consideration, — or in their use she 
courts danger. 



IX 

WHAT THE ADVERTISED COSMETICS 
AND " BEAUTIFIERS " REALLY ARE 

Many girls will doubtless be interested to 
discover the true inwardness of some of the 
well-known secret preparations for sale on the 
market to-day. One of these is a " balm." It 
is put up in a cheap glass flask, tied with a bit of 
ribbon. The ingredients of this " magic beauti- 
fier," besides water, are oxide of zinc and corro- 
sive sublimate, the latter a deadly poison. The 
price of the flask with its contents is $1.50, a sum 
gladly paid by many a poor girl. The real cost 
is not more than ten cents. 

Another preparation is a moth and freckle 
lotion. It is made up of " corrosive sublimate 
in almond paste or emulsion with water." It is 
also sold at the modest cost of $1.50, its worth 
being at most ten cents. 

Then a soap, scented and stamped with a 
certain magic name, sells for fifty cents. In 
reality this article is only an ordinary toilet 
soap, usually selling for ten cents a cake. The 



ADVERTISED COSMETICS 73 

" cream " in this series is a mixture of glycerine, 
zinc oxide and mercuric chloride (corrosive 
sublimate) scented with rose. These famous 
preparations have been the means of coining 
thousands of dollars for their ingenious pro- 
mulgator, while in reality they are ordinary, 
cheap preparations condemned by physicians 
especially on account of the corrosive sublimate 
found in most of them. 

Many powders contain lead. Indeed, some 
have been found by analyses to consist almost 
entirely of carbonate of lead, commonly known 
as white lead. A certain dermatologist tells 
of an experience he once had at a mineral bath 
resort. He was called in haste to attend a 
well-known actress. On entering the room, he 
found the patient literally " black in the face " — 
and neck. She was in the habit of using a 
cosmetic containing lead. Consequently the 
effect of her first sulphur bath was most appalling. 
The discoloration affected not only the surface 
of the skin, but also showed itself deep down in 
the pores, and she was a sorry looking sight. 
When sulphur comes in contact with lead on 
the skin, the effect is disastrous to beauty. Soap 
and water have no effect on such discoloration, 
which looks like indelible ink. The sebaceous 



74 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

matter in the pores gets mixed with the lead, and 
the ordinary blackhead looks fair in comparison 
with the result. The only way to get rid of 
these little black plugs is to squeeze them out. 
But discoloration from the use of lead powders 
is one of their least harmful effects. 

A girl came to a physician one day with all 
the symptoms of chronic lead poisoning. Her 
hands and arms were weak and unsteady. She 
found it difficult to write, and walking had 
become a task. She suffered from colic and 
her digestion was deranged. There was a 
coppery taste in her mouth every morning on 
waking. An ugly, dark blue line at the margin 
of the gums was a telltale landmark. 

The girl grew worse until she could neither 
pick up nor hold anything with her hands. 
Weakness in the hands was first noticed at a 
" taffy-pulling," where she dropped a skillet 
of hot syrup. At last she could not extend her 
fingers, and what is known as " wrist-drop " 
developed, that is, her hands dropped at the 
wrist and she had no power to raise them. So 
weak was her back that she could not hold 
herself up, but leaned her body over in the old- 
fashioned " Grecian bend." The first physician 
consulted thought that the trouble was spinal 



ADVERTISED COSMETICS 75 

disease, and fitted her with a brace; but her 
condition grew worse and a second physician was 
called in, who, after a careful examination, 
pronounced the condition chronic lead poisoning. 
This is only one of many similar instances. 
Delirium and convulsions have been caused by 
the long continued use of lead powders. Many 
powders warranted to be free from lead contain 
other very injurious ingredients, and disfiguring 
eruptions are sometimes caused by them. What- 
ever powder is used, it should be absolutely fresh; 
for even starch, when stale, is irritating. Talcum 
is as innocent as any adherent powder. A 
certain powder purporting to consist chiefly 
of bismuth contains none of this mineral, but 
is made up of chalk and clay. Nearly all 
bleaches contain mercuric chloride, always 
risky to use, as it is a deadly poison. 

" But," you ask, " what about the Pure Food 
and Drug Act? Hasn't that made any differ- 
ence? " 

Fortunately for foolish girls it has, and many 
preparations formerly harmful are now simply 
worthless. A certain bleach is made up of water 
and Epsom salts, costing the maker about three 
cents. Another bleaching lotion is a concoction 
of Rochelle salts and lemon juice. This lotion 



76 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

is sold for two dollars a bottle. A face rouge 
is a mixture of a poor quality of rose-water 
and ammonia, brightly colored with a little car- 
mine. 

A certain modern " mole-remover " consists 
of water and a little perfume. The directions 
on the bottle are: " Apply this to the mole or 
wart with a toothpick, using care not to apply 
too much. Rub gently with toothpick until a 
soft jellylike substance appears. Allow to re- 
main on for a minute or two, then apply ordi- 
nary vinegar in the same manner to prevent 
scarring. A scab will then form which will drop 
off in a few days, after which, if the surface is not 
entirely smooth, repeat treatment. Allow the solu- 
tion to get on no other part than that treated." 
Of course the only thing that can have any effect 
on the mole is the acid in the vinegar that you 
furnish yourself. 

If girls would only talk with a physician about 
the danger of starting malignant growths simply 
by the irritation of moles and warts, they would 
realize the danger of tampering with such blem- 
ishes. 

Recently I talked with an old German chem- 
ist who at one time was employed for several 
years in " beauty parlors and institutes," where 



ADVERTISED COSMETICS 77 

they claim to do all sorts of things to make girls 
and women beautiful. 

One day, he said, a girl came in who was going 
on the stage, and as her skin had begun to wrin- 
kle she wanted to have the wrinkles removed. 
The " Doctor " said he could do it. Then he 
used what is called the " paraffin treatment " — 
that is, he injected paraffin in six places on each 
side of her face. This was to get rid of both the 
worry wrinkles and the scowling wrinkles on the 
forehead, the crow's feet at the sides of the eyes, 
the lines each side of the nose, and the laughing 
wrinkles at the corners of the mouth. And the 
last injection was on the chin, because the 
girl had what the " Doctor " called jowls. The 
German said that after the " Doctor " got 
through with her she was a perfect scarecrow. 
When her face was still she looked as if some one 
had dabbed her in those places with a stick of 
white chalk. There were twelve perfectly white 
streaks. But when she grew excited or laughed 
or moved her face, the spots turned a blood red. 
The " Doctor " got twenty-five dollars from her 
for all this, and she was such a looking fright that 
she never could get on the stage! 

Another girl came in one day, and the " Doc- 
tor " injected some paraffin into the skin of her 



78 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

nose to change its shape. " No one knows what 
happened," said the German, " whether a vein 
was struck or what, but the girl had the most 
dreadful looking nose that you could imagine. 
It was all black and swollen and was in a terrible 
condition. Ihe girl was in agony. She came 
several times, and each time she was worse, until 
finally the ' Doctor ' refused to see her." 

Another girl wanted to have deep wrinkles 
around her eyes removed. So they took a tuck, as 
it were, in her scalp, but they made it too deep 
and instead of smoothing out her temples, it left 
her with the corners of her eyes drawn outward, 
so that she looked as if she had been cut on the 
bias! 

The men at this " institute," said the German, 
professed to make crooked noses straight. He 
said scores of women would come to be treated 
for their noses, and that some weird looking fea- 
tures were turned out, for they often cut the 
noses in the wrong places! 

He told me, too, of a young opera singer. 
Thinking she would have a few lines in her face 
filled up, she went to this " Doctor's " parlor. 
After the work was done, she had red bumps in- 
stead of faint lines, and, of course, she had to 
leave the stage. 



ADVERTISED COSMETICS 79 

Another girl he knew was an actress. She 
was very pretty, but her nose was a little tip- 
tilted; so she had an injection of paraffin, and it 
made a lump on her nose that looked like a 
goose egg. It disfigured her so that she has 
never been able to get a position since. 

Then I asked the old German how it was that 
this " beauty parlor " could show you such a 
number of photographs of people who had had 
their noses fixed over. One photograph would 
show a woman with a bad nose, and the other 
would show the same woman with her nose 
straight. 

The old German laughed. " First they take 
an ordinary photograph/' he said. " Of course, 
that shows all the wrinkles, the bad features 
and the bad nose. Then they take a photograph 
of the first photograph, and this last one they 
touch up themselves, just as they like, and the 
result is, of course, just what they want to make 
it. But it is not a real photograph, although 
it may look like it." 

Various processes are advertised for rejuvenat- 
ing the skin. One of the most painful of these 
is the iodine treatment. By it the skin is peeled 
off and the tissue underneath left raw. When 
healed, the new skin is more sensitive than a 



80 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

baby's and as expressionless as a wax doll's. 
Within a few months thousands of tiny, linelike, 
crisscross wrinkles appear, until the face wizens 
up like a shriveled apple. Another method, 
making use of carbolic acid, sometimes gives rise 
to carbolic acid poisoning. 

The other day, at an afternoon tea, I saw a 
woman with a most curious-looking complexion. 
Although the skin had no blemish, it looked so 
thin and so tender that one felt that a finger 
touch might cause pain. The woman's face had 
evidently been peeled! But the original " old 
expression " still remained. The contrast be- 
tween the babylike skin and the real age of the 
face called forth the remark that " Age showed 
through a mask of kittenish juvenility." 

Beware of using tinted cosmetics! A certain 
pink lip salve in common use, although doing 
no harm when the skin is not broken, is injurious 
when used on a cold-sore or on cracked lips. 

Carmine, after long-continued use, turns the 
skin dry and yellow. Vermilion is an active 
poison. But whatever is used that would choke 
the pores of the skin should be applied after a 
bland cream is rubbed in. One of the best 
creams for general use is that made according 
to the official formula. 



ADVERTISED COSMETICS 81 

Rouge for theatrical purposes is indispensa- 
ble, but it should contain no harmful ingredients, 
and it ought to be removed as soon as possible, 

A certain preparation advertised to produce 
rosy cheeks without the help of rouge consists 
of a powdered silicious sponge. Examined under 
the microscope the preparation is seen to be 
made up of multitudes of tiny silicious needles. 

These sharp spines stick into the skin ; irritat- 
ing it, thus causing it to redden. 

Many freckle lotions are either worthless or 
harmful, often containing mercuric chloride in 
injurious quantities. 

Many a girl's complexion is ruined beyond 
repair by the use of injurious cosmetics. Never 
mind if these tempting powders and " balms " 
do masquerade under attractive names; do not 
be tempted to use anything of the sort without 
first consulting a physician. 

Have you not often noticed the effect on the 
skin of poor physical condition? Perhaps no 
other part of the body so quickly shows it. 
Physicians are realizing more and more the 
connection between the condition of the health 
and the appearance of the skin, and do not treat 
lightly the case of a girl who presents herself 
with a blotchy complexion. The trouble is not 



82 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

merely superficial, but demands skillful insight 
and treatment. The cause of this condition 
must be removed before the complexion will 
be clear. Overeating, constipation, a sedentary 
life, the breathing of impure air, lack of sleep, 
nervous overstrain, violent emotions, such as 
anger — all these are bound to show their 
unpleasant effects sooner or later in the skin, 
the index of what is going on throughout the 
whole economy. 



THE " SECOND FACE" 

It is remarkable how much can be told from the 
hands of a man or a woman by one who has made 
it a subject of study. Many suggestions con- 
cerning the health, habits, occupation and char- 
acter may be gleaned from the mere grasp of the 
hand by one who is a keen observer. There are 
several characteristics apparent to even the most 
indifferent. If you shake a hand that is cold and 
dry, are you not immediately conscious of an un- 
comfortable sensation? Do you ever wonder 
what these characteristics indicate? They may 
mean anemia, or starvation, or very likely they 
are an index of feeble circulation. 

If, instead of being cold and dry, the hand is 
cold and clammy, and tremulous as well, then you 
may suspect dyspepsia, hysteria, melancholia, or 
some depressing emotion such as worry or terror; 
or this condition may be due to tea or alcohol or 
tobacco. The tuberculous patient often has a 
hand that is hot and dry and very thin. The 
hand of one suffering from cancer is often dry, as 



84 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

is also that of the person with chronic kidney 
trouble. Sometimes excessive sweating of the 
hand is an indication of chronic disease. The phy- 
sician gets many valuable hints about his patient 
from the condition of the hands. 

Occupation frequently leaves its stamp. How 
quickly you can detect the hand of a seamstress 
by looking at the pricked and blackened left index 
finger. There are often corns on the left finger- 
tips of violinists. 

In some people there are certain brown spots 
on the backs of the hands. These spots do not 
disappear when put under pressure. This ap- 
pearance has been noted in the case of certain 
diseases, such as tuberculosis. The hands nearly 
always grow red in one subject to rheumatic gout, 
no matter how white they may formerly have 
been. You have often noticed the joints dis- 
torted from rheumatism. Sometimes, indeed, 
the whole hand is left swollen and out of shape 
because of this disease. 

In its power of expression the hand stands next 
to the face. A modern writer on the hand says: 
" That it is what it is, the most active physical 
representative of the personality of every human 
being, entitles it to a regard and care which it am- 
ply repays." It is in direct communication with 



- 



THE "SECOND FACE" 85 

the brain, and it naturally expresses what is in 
the brain. 

The perfect hand has two essential character- 
istics, beauty and usefulness. The beauty of 
the hands depends quite as much upon the con- 
dition of the health as does the beauty of the 
complexion. Hands are fully as expressive of 
character as is the face. A pretty face loses half 
of its charm, if the hands show lack of care. 
Well-groomed hands are a very potent element 
of fascination, that mysterious quality so coveted 
by all girls. A hand to exert its greatest influ- 
ence must be a " capable " hand. It must look 
as if it did its share of the world's work; undevel- 
oped, it amounts almost to a deformity. 

All girls cannot have classically beautiful hands, 
but there is not one who cannot, by her own 
efforts, have attractive hands. 

The prettiest hands that I ever saw belonged to 
a woman who did all the work, including the 
washing, for her family of seven; so, although 
housework may have fallen to your lot, do not 
despair. There is still a great deal of hope for 
you if you are really in earnest about keeping 
your hands dainty. This friend of mine never 
purchased high-priced toilet preparations, for she 
was a genius and used what was easily accessible. 



86 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

After having her hands in water, they were al- 
ways dried with powdered starch. When her 
hands were not very much soiled, soap was passed 
by, oatmeal being substituted. This was just 
the ordinary breakfast oatmeal, put into little 
muslin bags holding two tablespoonfuls each. 
When used, the bags were soaked and squeezed 
in the water. Hard water she had to contend 
with, so this was always boiled before using in 
order to soften it. Into the basin of water a few 
drops — about a dozen — of the compound tinc- 
ture of benzoin were put. For both oatmeal 
and benzoin tend to whiten the skin and make it 
soft and delicate. 

Before polishing the stoves, a little lard was 
rubbed under and around the finger-nails, pro- 
tecting them from the grime of the blacking. 
Unavoidable stains were removed immediately 
with the skins of raw tomatoes, or lemon juice; 
and ink stains with the fumes of a burning sul- 
phur match. Sometimes the head of the match 
was wet and rubbed on the spot. When obliged 
to keep her hands in water until they were 
shrunken, into vinegar they went, coming out 
from this bath in normal condition. Before 
doing work that would discolor the hands, 
vinegar was rubbed over them and allowed 



THE "SECOND FACE " 87 

to dry, for the vinegar forms a protective 
coating. 

Many an onion she peeled and many a codfish 
she shredded, but they had no terrors for her, for 
she knew that the unpleasant odor could be re- 
moved by rubbing dry mustard over the hands, 
or by putting them into mustard water. 

A pair of chamois gloves were worn whenever 
it was convenient, for the texture of the chamois 
keeps the dirt from penetrating to the skin, thus 
offering a great protection. Before putting 
down carpets or cleaning house, this wise person 
ran her nails over a cake of softened castile. 
After the work was finished she had but to press 
gently on the nails to remove the bits of soap 
that had proved such good protection. 

Her toilet cream was a specialty of the neigh- 
borhood, and was made up of mutton tallow, 
lemon juice, and honey. These ingredients were 
put on the back of the stove to simmer until thor- 
oughly mixed. A favorite paste was made of 
camphor, honey, and powdered sulphur. An 
occasional use of cornmeal helped to keep the 
hands smooth. This was sometimes used for 
drying the hands, and occasionally in place of 
soap. 

Girls who spend their days in household du- 



88 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

ties may find a certain amount of diversion in 
matters of the toilet so easily attended to. 

The nails, in order to indicate good circulation 
and general health, should be clear pink in color. 
If this changes to a dusky shade there is sug- 
gested a deficiency in the action of the heart 
and lungs, or it may be that the body is not suffi- 
ciently nourished ; this condition sometimes occurs 
also in cold weather, or in persons who are very 
feeble. It has been said that salt air quickens 
the growth of the nails, and there is also a tradi- 
tion that great grief destroys them. It is well 
known that often the nails are pale in those suf- 
fering from tuberculosis, are yellow in cases of 
jaundice, and purple in certain disturbances of 
the circulation. 

Although in most towns one can generally 
find a professional manicure, still such work is 
never so cheap but that a girl feels she can econ- 
omize by doing it herself. The process is very 
simple and so are the implements, although 
these may be as elaborate as you wish. One 
needs a pair of curved nail scissors, a nail file, an 
orange-wood stick, a chamois buffer or polisher, 
a little vaseline or cold cream, and a box of nail 
powder. The nails should be manicured twice 
a week, and this, together with a little daily 



THE "SECOND FACE" 89 

care will keep them in good condition all the 

time. 

First, the hands should be washed with warm 
water, not hot, and a mild soap. White castile 
or the fine French toilet soaps may be used, or 
any good soap that you have found agrees with 
your skin. Dip the fingers for a moment into 
a bowl of warm water into which a little benzoin 
has been dropped. File the nails to an oval 
shape — do not point them — being careful not 
to go down into the quick at the side. Avoid, 
also, going too deeply under the free end of the 
nail, as this will shorten its normal length, and 
so will leave an undue stretch of dull white 
surface. 

Next, with the orange- wood stick, gently remove 
any foreign particle from beneath and around the 
nail, pressing back the skin from the root. Do 
not use any force, for this will cause a bruise and 
there will probably soon appear a tiny white spot, 
the bane of so many girls. Never use a metal 
instrument for cleaning the nails, as this scratches 
them and roughens them so that dirt is easily 
ground in. 

Many manicures condemn any clipping of the 
cuticle, but this is sometimes necessary, espe- 
cially when there are hangnails, or agnails, as 



90 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

they are properly termed. Such little wounds 
offer an excellent starting-point for infection, 
and should be carefully avoided. They are com- 
monly found on the hands of girls whose skin is 
dry, or on hands used for very hard work. White 
spots, too, are far more likely to occur on nails 
that are too dry and not well nourished. In 
such a condition it is a most excellent plan to 
rub cocoa butter or mutton tallow thoroughly 
into all parts of the nail every night. This will 
help not only to keep them in good condition, 
but it will do much to prevent white spots, and to 
keep the skin from growing up in that ugly way 
over the dainty white crescent. Now for the 
last touches. 

Although it is not absolutely necessary, a little 
emery board is a great convenience in beveling 
off the edge of the nails, and in taking away any 
tiny rough point that may have been left after 
filing. The nails are then ready for polishing. 

A bit of vaseline or cold cream is first rubbed 
over them, and the powder is applied. A little 
vigorous rubbing, not hard enough to heat the 
nail, will put on a suitable lustre. Avoid too 
high a polish, as this looks artificial. The liquid 
enamel sometimes used is likely to be too highly 
colored and gives a varnished look. If the skin 



THE "SECOND FACE" 91 

about the nails is sensitive, it is a good plan to 
apply a drop of sweet oil, or a bit of the ointment 
of oxide of zinc, that is very healing. Put this 
on with a wooden toothpick. 

After polishing the nails with the buffer, dip 
them again into warm soapsuds, and with a very 
soft brush run over the nails in order that every 
particle of the powder may be removed. After 
carefully drying, the nails may be given their 
final touch by rubbing them on the palm of the 
other hand. 

If you go to a professional manicure, she will 
probably use an antiseptic into which is dipped 
the orange-wood stick. This precaution should 
always be taken, as infection is very easily car- 
ried by wood. I have a friend who was severely 
poisoned by a stick that had not been properly 
treated in the hands of a manicure. The use of 
pumice-stone for the removal of stains is often 
advised, but even the prepared block of pumice 
sometimes injures the skin. It is far better to 
make a soap ball yourself in the following way: 
Shred up a cake of castile soap, and put it into a 
little water on the back of the stove until it melts; 
then stir in about a teaspoonful of pumice-stone 
that has been twice pulverized. The grain of 
this is so fine that it cannot cause any injury. 



92 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

After this mixture has partly cooled, it is moulded 
into a ball or cake. Whenever you wish to use 
it, the ball should be dipped into warm water 
and rubbed on the stains. 

If you are unfortunate enough to bruise a nail 
badly, hold it in water as hot as you can bear for 
half an hour. In this way you will generally be 
able to prevent the settling of the blood under 
the nail. If you burn your hand, and this will 
not happen often if you take the precaution of 
wearing gloves, dust dry baking-soda over the 
injured spot, binding up the hand with a damp 
cloth. This is an excellent remedy for burns. 

If obliged to wash your hands so frequently 
that they begin to show injurious effects of soap 
and water, try cleansing them with olive oil or 
cold cream. The beautifying effects of such an 
emollient are well known. A girl with very ex- 
quisite hands says she has not washed them with 
soap and water for years. She uses only olive 
oil for cleansing them. 

No girl can afford to neglect her hands, espe- 
cially at night, when the application of a little 
cold cream or mutton tallow will work wonders 
before morning. 



XI 

THE WINDOW OF THE SOUL 

(1) 

On the first morning of a delightful visit to the 
Catskills one summer, my eyes opened to the 
most exquisite light filtering through grass-green 
shades. The whole tinting was one with the 
restful tone of the tree-tops that surrounded the 
house on every side. 

At breakfast I spoke to my hostess of this, and 
she answered: " Yes, Doctor, I had those shades 
painted." 

A few days later, while on a little trip to Massa- 
chusetts, to my discomfort I woke with the earliest 
dawn. Instead of the soft hues of Nature that 
had soothed both eyes and nerves in my friend's 
mountain home, the brilliant rays of the sun were 
intensified by the bright yellow curtains through 
which they shone. Surely much of our comfort 
depends upon the treatment that our eyes receive. 

A subdued light is always desirable when the 
eyes are not being taxed by work, but reading, 



94 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

studying, and sewing, and any labor that requires 
keen eyesight, are best done in unobstructed 
daylight. You who have to use your eyes many 
hours each day, by a little care will be able to 
lengthen the time of their usefulness by many 
years. 

In our daily tasks it is well, every now and then, 
to raise the eyes from the book or needlework 
and to let them rest for a moment or two upon 
the most distant object in view. This little 
manoeuvre is wisely practised by those who are 
using the microscope. 

If you live in a city, and are fortunate enough 
to have your room on the upper floor of a sky- 
scraper, you need only lift your eyes to see the 
distant horizon. Perhaps your window com- 
mands the view of river or harbor, where the 
boats are plying up and down. However, if your 
view is not extensive, help yourself out by having 
some landscape pictures hung on the wall beyond 
your desk, and look at them now and then, seeing, 
not the flat surface of paper or canvas, but the 
sky, the woods, and the mountains which they 
represent. 

When away on your vacation next summer, 
especially if you go down to the shore, where the 
glare of sun and water is so uncompromising, 



THE WINDOW OF THE SOUL 95 

the dainty sunbonnet, which of late years has 
not been in high favor, will be most comfortable. 
Its shade affords great protection to the eyes. 

But we cannot all stop working when the sun 
goes down, and the evening light is, therefore, 
an important consideration. If you use a kero- 
sene lamp, be sure that it is a good one, properly 
shaded. The student lamp is satisfactory. 

One of my college friends could not sit in the 
body of the church and look up at the minister 
without the most painful fatigue. She could, 
however, go up into the gallery of the old-fash- 
ioned New England church and look down with- 
out any discomfort. 

It is a great temptation, if you have slightly 
overstrained your eyes, or if they are inflamed 
from any other cause, to rub them when you 
wake up in the morning. Resist this inclination. 
If you feel that an eye-wash of some kind is nec- 
essary, you will find equal quantities of camphor 
water and a three per cent solution of boric acid 
a simple and effective one. This lotion should 
be filtered and used with an eyecup. While 
holding the glass by its stem, lower the head 
while the rim of the glass is fitted around the 
eye. Toss the head back and raise and lower the 
eyelid slowly ten or fifteen times. 



96 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

Another simple lotion, that you should make 
every time you use it, or at least every few days, in 
order that it may be perfectly fresh, consists of 
one scant teaspoonful of boric acid crystals to a 
pint of boiled water. This also is used with the 
eyecup. It is convenient, when buying the bo- 
ric acid crystals, to order about two ounces. 
These lotions may be used when the eye is 
slightly inflamed from overstrain, or dust, or per- 
haps as the result of a cold. 

Last summer I took a young girl who was 
slightly near-sighted to consult an oculist. Af- 
ter a careful examination the specialist decided 
that as long as the patient was not using her 
eyes for any close work at the time, glasses were 
unnecessary. Feeling so well satisfied with the 
result of the interview, I was much surprised, on 
coming out of the office, to hear my friend say: 

" Well, the doctor didn't tell me anything dif- 
ferent from what the optician said about my 
eyes a year ago. Why should I pay a big fee for 
the same advice? " 

I have found it very difficult to reason with peo- 
ple who hold such views. Hardly, till a girl 
studies the eye thoroughly herself, can she real- 
ize the necessity of the utmost skill in an ex- 
amination of this organ. It is only a physi- 



THE WINDOW OF THE SOUL 97 

cian who has given years, not only to the study 
of the eye itself, but to the body and its dis- 
eases in general, who is capable of giving an expert 
opinion. In many cases it is the oculist who 
first finds evidence of some serious, obscure dis- 
ease; and in many other cases the general phy- 
sician, when he detects certain symptoms which 
puzzle nim, sends the patient to the oculist for 
final confirmation of the diagnosis. 

So really, when your eyes begin to bother you, 
even ever so slightly, the most intelligent thing 
you can do is to consult a conscientious oculist. 
For although you may notice only a slight con- 
gestion, the specialist may discover some growth 
that ought to be removed, or some diseased con- 
dition that needs immediate treatment, or he 
may find that an operation is necessary for the 
future usefulness of your eye. 

I so often hear people say: " I don't intend to 
go to an oculist until I can't put it off any longer, 
for as surely as I go he will find something the 
matter, even if my eyes are in perfect condition. 
I know he will make me wear glasses if I go to 
him, and I hate glasses and don't mean to wear 
them." 

It does not make you any older to go to the 
oculist, and it may save you much trouble later. 



98 



THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 



You cannot be too careful in your choice of this 
expert, but having once decided upon the best 
one that you know, you should lose no time in 
consulting him if you detect any possible trouble. 



XII 

THE WINDOW OF THE SOUL 

(2) 

It is said that one of the striking charms of 
Empress Eugenie's face is the downward tilt 
of the outer corner of the eye. This is an ex- 
ample of the well-known fact that the beauty of 
the eye depends more upon its setting, appendages, 
and lustre than upon shape or color. For, 
generally speaking, the differences in the size 
and shape of the eyeball are comparatively very 
slight. 

Classically beautiful eyes are placed widely 
apart, the distance between them being the length 
of the eye itself. The old masters' conception 
of womanly beauty found its expression in their 
portrayals of the Madonnas, whose eyes are in- 
variably well apart. 

Although there are many senseless traditions 
as to the meaning of different characteristics 
of the eye, such as its variation in color, in setting 
and so on, nevertheless, the eye is the feature 
upon which we depend in great part for our read- 



100 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

ing of another's character. It is the part of the 
face through which the soul seems to shine. The 
eye is so magnetic that we are often mistaken 
in referring to it expressions that really come 
from the eyebrow, the moving of a lid, or even 
those emanating from a more distant feature of the 
face. The eye is the magnet which draws toward 
itself all of the varying fascinations of the face. 

It ought to be a comfort, then, to every girl to 
feel that in large part the beauty of her eyes is 
under her own control. As far as the eye itself 
is concerned, its chief beauties are its expression 
and its lustre. Color is a subordinate factor. 
While the expression of the eye is dependent upon 
the character, the lustre depends upon the bodily 
condition. Those girls who are so interested in 
the effect of drugs — such as belladonna — upon 
the eyes, would find a few nights of " beauty 
sleep " worth all of the drugs in an apothecary's 
shop. The tint of the white of the eye is a far 
more important element of beauty than is the color 
of the iris. It is here that the physician so often 
finds an indication of over-fatigue or of disease. 
Almost any girl could pick out the yellow eye of 
the bilious sufferer. The desirable tint of the 
white of the eye is not an ivory white, but a deli- 
cate violet tint. 



THE WINDOW OF THE SOUL 101 

I cannot resist the temptation to speak here of 
the effect of deep breathing on the lustre of the eye, 
for good circulation plays a most important role. 

Girls are beginning to realize what beauty a well 
cared for eyebrow adds to the appearance of the 
eye. I have a friend to whom nature gave heavy 
black eyebrows that met over the bridge of the 
nose. They gave her a positively sinister appear- 
ance. By means of electrolysis she had a number 
of hairs removed, thus separating the brows. 
The whole character of her face was changed 
and improved. 

If your own brows are moderately heavy and 
dark, you can easily see, by ruffling them up and 
placing the hairs in different positions, how dis- 
tinctly you can change the expression of your 
face. No one knows this better than the actor, 
who depends much upon the arrangement of 
this feature for the expression which he wishes 
to portray. Tiny eyebrow brushes may be 
bought for keeping the brows smooth. Some 
girls have to contend with an erratic growth of 
these hairs, but do not despair, for patient train- 
ing will overcome these natural tendencies. 
Every time that the toilet of the face or the hair 
is made, the brows should be gently brushed, so 
that they will lie in a delicate curve. For the 



102 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

obstinate hairs that will refuse to grow in the 
proper direction, the application every night of 
gum arabic solution will work wonders. 

Scanty eyebrows are a great trial to their pos- 
sessor. I know two girls who were distressed in 
this way. One persistently rubbed vaseline into 
her brows daily for a year, while the other made 
use of olive oil in the same way. Delicate arch- 
ing brows resulted in one case, while a luxuriant 
growth was produced in the other. The same 
treatment very carefully given will often act simi- 
larly on the eyelashes. 

Puffy eyelids which will not disappear with 
strict attention to the laws of health generally 
indicate some disturbance that needs the per- 
sonal supervision of a physician. It may be that 
the liver is out of order, or it may be that the 
kidneys are not properly performing their work. 
Such a symptom should not be neglected. In 
other cases this unpleasant condition is due to 
inflammation of the lower lids. 

Dark rings under the eyes, the despair of many 
girls, depend primarily upon some disorder of the 
circulation. I know of many cases in which this 
trouble has been corrected by early and long 
hours of sleep. This appearance, too, is more 
common in girls with very thin skin. 



THE WINDOW OF THE SOUL 103 

An astringent mixture composed of twenty 
grains of tannic acid to an ounce of glycerine 
applied to the relaxed tissues under the eyes by 
means of a bit of gauze, night and morning, helps 
to restore the natural tone. A simple massage 
movement consists in pinching up these flabby 
parts between the thumb and forefinger. This 
also diminishes the dark rings. 

The colored people in the South sometimes 
complain of " wild hairs " in the eyes. This ex- 
pression refers to ingrowing eyelashes, a source 
of great irritation. If you are ever troubled with 
a " wild hair," its removal will afford instant 
relief. 

The disagreeable watery eye does not neces- 
sarily indicate a chronic disorder, for sometimes 
it is due to over-fatigue alone. Catarrh or an 
ordinary cold may be its exciting cause. 

A good lotion to use in simple cases is made 
up of ten grains of sodium borate, one drachm of 
camphor water, and one ounce of distilled water. 
A few drops of this may be put into the eye three 
times a day, by means of an eye dropper. The 
easiest way of inserting it is gently to pull the 
lower fid out and slightly downward. The entire 
drop is then easily retained, and distributed over 
the surface of the eye. 



104 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

In extracting a foreign body from the eye, the 
person should be told to look down. By grasp- 
ing the lashes of the upper lid gently, but firmly, 
it can be easily turned back. If the offending 
particle is in this part of the eye, it can generally 
be quickly taken out by means of a twist of linen 
or of tissue paper. If nothing is found here, the 
lower lid should be grasped by the lashes and 
pulled slightly downward and outward. The 
eye should never be rubbed outward. 

Pink-eye, a common disease, and trachoma are 
contagious affections of the eye often found, es- 
pecially in school children in large cities. Such 
diseases should receive the most careful atten- 
tion. In the home separate towels and wash- 
cloths are absolutely necessary in order to guard 
against the spread of the contagion. 

Tiny black specks, known in medicine by the 
Latin term of " flitting flies," frequently give 
rise to much anxiety. If you are troubled in this 
way, however, do not worry, Oftentimes such 
a symptom is of no significance. Sometimes it 
means that you should take more exercise and be 
more careful of your diet. It is always more 
satisfactory, of course, to know what the oculist 
thinks about it. For if there is any obscure trouble 
that needs his attention he will quickly detect it. 



THE WINDOW OF THE SOUL 105 

As soon as the pus of a stye is formed, an out- 
let should be given to it, for until this is done it 
will not get well. If you do this yourself, use the 
point of a sharp needle that has been dipped in 
boiling water. In the beginning of a stye, cold 
applications may be helpful, but in the later 
stages hot applications are more desirable. 

No one but an oculist is capable of intelli- 
gently treating eyes whose muscles are weak, or 
those with short sight or long sight. He has to 
perform many tests in order to determine just 
exactly the kind of glass that is necessary. Spec- 
tacles have long been considered better for the 
wearer than eye-glasses, but the latter are now 
so skilfully adjusted that the advantage of the 
spectacle is really inconsiderable. 

The heroine of a novel that I have just been 
reading is characterized by the way in which 
she moves her eyes. Instead of moving her head 
to look at an object on either side, she moved her 
eyes only, which gave her a treacherous, catlike 
expression. 

The manner of moving the eyes, the lids, and 
the brows may easily degenerate into manner- 
isms. Many girls look ten or fifteen years older 
than they realty are, owing to some unfortunate 
mannerism of raising the brow and wrinkling 



106 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

the forehead, or, it may be, of lowering the brow, 
thus causing the deep furrows between the brows. 

You are fortunate indeed if you live at home 
where your mother will tell you when you are 
beginning to form one of these ugly habits. I 
know a mother who sometimes suddenly tells 
her daughter to look in the glass without changing 
her expression. And the girl is startled to find 
the contortions and unpleasant expressions that 
she is unconsciously harboring. 

Such tricks as that of " batting " the eye are 
generally as unnecessary as they are disagreeable. 
Squinting the eyes often comes from imperfect 
sight. It brings wrinkles in its train. 

There is nothing that so undermines one's 
confidence in another as a shifting expression. 
A clear, steady gaze is a source of great power, 
for it invariably inspires confidence. For the 
color of the eye we are not responsible, and it is 
well for us all that tastes differ and that the stand- 
ard of beauty is comparative. Some admire the 
quiet intellectuality of the gray eye, while others 
find the soft brown of the dark eye more fasci- 
nating. Each color carries its own attraction, 
and from it the eye gains something of its peculiar 
charm. 



XIII 

THE MAKING OF A BEAUTIFUL MOUTH 

Although we must accept at the start the 
features that Nature has given us, be it known 
for our comfort that the mouth is essentially self- 
made. This feature has been called the visible 
seat of the emotions. Even the eyes have not 
the gift of smiling to nearly such a degree as the 
mouth possesses. Take the picture of a face 
with sad expression, and paste over the depressed 
lines of the mouth smiling lips. The entire ex- 
pression of the face is changed at once, although 
the eyes themselves have not been altered. The 
delicacy of expression and the infinite shades of 
meaning that play about a beautiful mouth are 
our inheritance through generations of civilized 
ancestors. The muscles of the animal's mouth 
are used for sucking and chewing. There is 
even a greater difference between the mouth of the 
animal and that of man, than there is between 
the animal's forefoot and the human hand. Mus- 
cles must be exercised before they become adept 
in any function. In vain would we look to the 



108 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

savage for expressions of emotions which are 
alien to him. The muscles of his mouth are not 
trained to express the tenderness and refinement 
that is such an intimate part of our lives. 

The German philosopher, Kant, in his advice 
to parents, says: "Children, especially girls, 
must be accustomed early to smile in a frank, un- 
constrained manner; for the cheerfulness and 
animation of the features gradually leave an im- 
pression on the mind itself, and thus create a 
disposition towards gaiety, amiableness, and 
sociability, which lay an early foundation for the 
virtue of benevolence." 

The reflex effect of smiling is easily tested when- 
ever you feel especially irritable or blue. Per- 
severe in turning up the corners of the mouth at 
such a time, either by working the muscles volun- 
tarily, or by coaxing them by means of the fingers. 
A natural smile will come in spite of your disturb- 
ance, and the clouds will begin to chase them- 
selves out of your mental horizon. 

The other evening, when dining out, I was 
extremely impressed with the power of beauty 
that lies in mere expression. I met a middle- 
aged woman whose every feature was common- 
place, even to an ugly shade of red hair. But 
the fascination of her face grew upon me irresist- 



MAKING A BEAUTIFUL MOUTH 109 

ibly until I fell to analyzing its cause. This 
was her smile, which expressed such intelligence, 
such a keen sense of humor, and above all such 
sweetness, and such a charitable attitude to all 
mankind, that I was won in spite of my first 
impressions. 

Just as a continual frown of discontent will 
result in ineradicable wrinkles that even massage 
cannot iron out, so, fortunately for us, amiable, 
wholesome thoughts will exercise the " pleasant 
muscles," until the mouth becomes curved into 
sweet and winsome lines, and the inheritance of 
undesirable contours will melt away in our in- 
dividual expression, for " form is merely crystal- 
lized expression." Ruskin says: " There is not 
any virtue the exercise of which, even momen- 
tarily, will not impress a new fairness upon the 
features." 

German women who are devoted to music 
and to nature more frequently have good mouths 
than those women of other nationalities, among 
whom personal beauty is more common. 

The girl who is bent on making her mouth 
beautiful should not fall into the error of assuming 
a continuous grin. Muscles always kept on the 
stretch finally lose their original contour, and 
distortion and wrinkles result. The inane gig- 



110 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

gling in which so many young girls thoughtlessly 
indulge is an enemy to beautiful facial expression. 
The emptiness of such a habit, I feel sure, reacts 
upon the brain. 

The Persian philosopher, Sahadi, says: "The 
mouth is a grotto where pearls are priceless." 
There is a solid foundation to that old tale about 
the blind man who said that he felt sure that one 
of his acquaintances who was continually laughing 
must have a set of beautiful teeth. 

One might think, from the appearance of some 
teeth, that they were accorded by their possessors 
an unimportant position in the scale of beauty. 
Yet the expression of many a face is vulgarized 
by uncared for or neglected teeth. Not only the 
appearance of the teeth counts in the sum total 
of beauty, but also the manner of exposing them. 
Gums were not made for exhibition, and the girl 
who smiles so carelessly that she raises her upper 
lip nearly to its attachment needs to study before 
the mirror till she can smile without making her 
friends think of a savage. 

The care of the teeth can never be taken in 
hand at too early an age. Neglect in infant days 
does not hold as an excuse for us in later years. 
So much of health and beauty depends upon the 
condition of the teeth that their preservation 



MAKING A BEAUTIFUL MOUTH 111 

should be a matter of great concern. The shape 
of the jaw and so of the face, on the side of 
beauty, and the digestion of the food, on the 
part of health, hark back to the teeth as a start- 
ing point. 

A German scholar who has put much time on 
this subject has examined a great many people 
among the industrial and working classes. He 
has found dental decay to such a degree in the 
teeth of the bakers, that he has been able in many 
cases, before asking the occupation of the patient, 
to tell it himself from the condition of the teeth. 

He states that no other class of people could 
compare in this respect with the bakers, excepting 
a few children of confectioners. The acids that 
result from the fermentation of starch in the 
mouth are as injurious to the teeth as those 
formed from sugar. Scientists have proved by 
experiments that saliva at blood temperature 
that contains starch forms as much acid in as 
short a time as does saliva containing sugar. 

Indeed, it has been found that saliva containing 
bread or potato produces more acid, and that in 
a shorter time than an equal quantity of saliva 
to which sugar has been added. One could not 
conceive of keeping meat fresh by leaving it 
for some time in a cup of saliva maintained at 



112 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

blood heat. But every time that we fail to 
cleanse the teeth after eating, or even nibbling, 
we are establishing similar conditions. 

Not only is it a necessity to keep the teeth and 
mouth as clean and sweet as possible, in order to 
avoid dental decay, but for another reason even 
more potent, — that of the general health. The 
mouth is the " portal of entry " for a great many 
diseases. It is a most common occurrence for 
physicians who make careful examinations of 
the microbes that are in the mouths of perfectly 
healthy people to find among them those of 
diphtheria, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and many 
others that are known to be the cause of deadly 
diseases. 

To some of you this may be a new idea. If it is, 
I am sure that the question you are asking is: 
" Well, then, what keeps us from having the 
diseases? " The power of resistance possessed by 
healthy tissue is our safeguard against such 
inroads. This truth holds, too, in relation to the 
teeth themselves, for the greater their power of 
resistance the less they will be affected by caries. 

A great deal of work has been done on the 
subject of mouth disinfection, and in consequence 
many mouth washes have been suggested. A 
simple but good one is composed of benzoic acid, 



MAKING A BEAUTIFUL MOUTH 113 

30 parts; tincture of eucalyptus 150 parts; al- 
cohol, 1000 parts; and the oil of peppermint 7.5 
parts. Enough of this lotion should be added to 
half a wine glass full of water to make its appear- 
ance distinctly cloudy. 

Another one is composed of borobenzoic acid, 
5 parts ; menthol, 5 parts ; tincture of krameria, 
15 parts; cologne water, 50 parts; rectified 
spirit; 100 parts. From 30 to 45 drops are added 
to 3 ounces of water and the lotion is then ready 
for use. 

Too much reliance, however, must not be 
placed upon the bactericidal power of a mouth 
wash. Nevertheless it is a preventive of which 
it is well for us to take advantage. The use of 
the tooth-brush helps to keep the gums in healthy 
condition, for its friction makes them firmer and 
more resistant. The teeth should be cleansed 
both in a horizontal and in a vertical direction — 
the back and front, and the biting surfaces. A 
good dentifrice is also a necessity in the care 
of the teeth, as well as the employment of den- 
tal floss, and a quill or wooden toothpick. 



XIV 

THE GREATEST CHARM OF ALL 

Last summer I attended a tennis tournament 
on Long Island. As a group of us sat chatting 
before the game was on, a Frenchman who was 
a member of our party noticed three stunning 
girls who took their places toward the end of the 
court. " Ah! How chic, how distingue, char- 
mant" he cried, lapsing into his native tongue 
in his enthusiasm. " If only they knew how to 
speak," he added, as their high-pitched voices 
penetrated our ears even at that distance. This 
is only another instance of the foreigner's disap- 
probation of the uncultivated American voice. 
But although every American girl has had this 
dinned into her ears since childhood, not many 
of us take the pains to overcome this almost 
national defect. 

The following comments are attributed to 
Madame Marchesi, the celebrated vocal teacher 
in Paris. " Why, oh why, do American women 
all speak through their noses? When a young 
girl comes to me to have her voice tried, before 



THE GREATEST CHARM OF ALL 115 

she opens her mouth, I am lost in admiration 
of her flowing tresses, her pearly teeth, her rosy 
complexion, and her stately bearing. How 
suddenly am I called down from heaven to earth, 
when I hear her say in a clear, nasal tone: ' Are 
you Madame Marchesi? ' Why do you Americans 
all have such nasal voices! " continued the great 
teacher. " It cannot be the language, because 
the English women have exceptionally beautiful 
voices, but America sends us only shrill and 
high-pitched tones." 

The common theories for this condition are 
well known to you all. The Puritan ancestors 
cannot in justice be made to bear the entire 
brunt of this fault, even though they were accus- 
tomed to exhort and speak in nasal singsong 
tones. 

Climate, we must admit, is oftentimes indi- 
rectly the cause of an unpleasant voice. Never- 
theless, we must come back at last, — in spite of 
all interesting theories which excuse us from bear- 
ing the responsibility of our own shortcomings, — 
and confess that we alone are at fault, and that we 
alone are the ones to bring about a more desirable 
state of affairs. 

Marcus Aurelius showed centuries ago the 
successful path to the attainment of an attractive 



116 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

speaking voice: " Nobody is ever tired of ad- 
vantages. How to get into conformity with 
the laws of Nature, is certainly an advantage." 
To conform with Nature's laws we must first 
cultivate a correct position. When the body is 
erect and uncompressed, the breathing muscles 
are left free to do their most effective work. 
Much is said about the different methods of 
breathing. Most women are credited with the 
habit of chest breathing. We are told to culti- 
vate the abdominal or masculine method, but 
many of the best authorities think that still a 
better plan is to cultivate the entire muscular 
system by suitable outdoor exercise. In this 
way the habit of correct deep breathing is de- 
veloped without special effort being directed to 
any one method. When the head is held erect, 
the larynx or voice box is carried forward, and 
its cartilages are so placed as to be in the most 
advantageous position for sending out clear and 
harmonious sounds. Speakers and singers are 
taught to keep the lungs well filled with fresh 
air. Musical tones demand a plentiful supply of 
oxygen. When you are too tired to breathe 
properly, don't try to talk. Yogi practice in 
the Orient, which includes a system of deep 
breathing most scientifically taught, invariably 



THE GREATEST CHARM OF ALL 117 

brings to the devotee a voice that is rich and 
sonorous. 

In my observation, men are more sensitive to 
the modulations of the voice than are women. 
The other day at an afternoon tea, as a friend 
passed by me on his way out of the room, he 
stopped a minute and said: "Can't you get it 
to these girls some way that they ought to modu- 
late their voices? It almost drives me crazy to 
be in the room with them, especially when they 
laugh!" And at breakfast the other morning, 
another man said, indicating with a slight nod of 
his head a feminine literary personage who was 
holding forth on the pros and cons of the recent 
war: " Does that ever stop? I'm thankful I 
can go somewhere else for lunch! Does it go 
on forever? " 

If these same girls at the afternoon tea only 
realized it, they could all talk just as much and 
hear themselves (and very few people do listen 
to themselves) and each other even better if they 
all spoke in softly modulated voices. There is 
a certain peculiar quality of voice which dis- 
tinguishes each person and which he cannot 
modify, called by the Germans, the " color of 
the sound." The English say: " You may be 
deceived by a face, by a voice, never! " The 



118 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

voice is even more distinctly characteristic of an 
individual than is the face, but one need not 
fear that training it will detract from its individu- 
ality. That is the quality that one loves in one's 
friends and which is never lost. Without doubt 
a dislike of useless noise increases with refinement 
of the senses and the mind. Goethe hated noise, 
especially at night. Franz, the brilliant song 
composer, had hearing so delicate that it was 
destroyed by the whistle of a locomotive. Scho- 
penhauer sums up this whole question: " Intel- 
lectual persons, and all in general who have much 
esprit cannot endure noise 1 . Astounding, on the 
other hand, is the insensibility of ordinary people 
to noise. The quantity of noise which any one 
can endure without annoyance is really related 
inversely to his mental endowments, and may 
be regarded as a pretty accurate measure of 
them." It is the making of so much unnecessary 
noise attributed to Americans that causes foreign- 
ers to judge us as an uncultivated nation. 

Up to about fifty years ago, many conflicting 
theories concerning the mechanism of the voice- 
producing organs were advanced. There had 
been many unsuccessful attempts to see the action 
of the living larynx. But in 1854, Manuel 
Garcia, a great Parisian singing teacher, really 



THE GREATEST CHARM OF ALL 119 

saw his own vocal cords in a small dentist's mir- 
ror which was pushed into the back of his mouth. 
It was two years later when Czermak, a German 
medical professor, began to practise systema- 
tically on himself and on his patients with the 
laryngoscope. After he had convinced himself 
of the real value of the invention, he traveled 
through the chief cities of Europe, and demon- 
strated to the leading physicians how indispen- 
sable this instrument is in the study of the throat. 
If you have never seen such an image in this little 
mirror, you will be interested to look at the picture 
of the vocal cords in some medical book. 

When the voice has been wrongly used, or over- 
worked, the cords become congested. " Clergy- 
man's sore throat " may be the result. Or it 
may be that only temporary hoarseness follows. 
The latter condition is often the result of a cold. 
Whenever hoarseness is present, one should stop 
using the voice at once, for this trouble may 
become chronic. Medical attention should be 
given immediately to such a condition, for the 
longer this is put off the harder it will be to cure, 
and the more permanent will be the injurious 
results. Go to a physician for this treatment. 
Nothing is more harmful to the delicate structures 
of the larynx than frequent colds. Impure air, 



120 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

laden with dust or smoke, is very irritating to the 
vocal cords. 

By means of the voice we have a stronger in- 
fluence on other people than in almost any other 
way. A teacher in a " model school " who has 
under her care more than sixty little children 
is considered by the visiting critics to be a marvel- 
ous disciplinarian, and it is a fact admitted by 
the faculty that it is her voice which gives her 
this wonderful power of control over all these 
restless little people. She never raises her voice 
above her usual well-modulated speaking tones, 
but its serenity and richness are irresistible. 

The voice nearly always tells us how the speaker 
is feeling. It is practically impossible, when one 
is feeling downcast or anxious, to use a tone that 
is bright and cheery, for fear and languor lower 
the voice. Surprise takes it away, admiration 
prolongs it, while hope makes it sonorous. Per- 
haps you have noticed, too, that embarrassment 
sometimes causes hoarseness. Whispering is 
said by vocal teachers to be bad for the voice. 
This is one argument against such indulgence by 
choir-singers. Outdoor speaking and singing 
you should always avoid, especially in the night 
air. It does seem too bad when one thinks of 
the straw rides and sleighing parties and barge 



THE GREATEST CHARM OF ALL 121 

picnics, when singing and laughter add so much 
to the gaiety, but if you are still in your teens I 
am sure that you do not realize what harm even 
quiet talking in damp night air does to your voice. 
If you live in the city, it is well to remember not to 
use your voice on board the trolleys when they 
are running. Never talk against any loud noise, 
for you are sure to overexert your voice at 
such times. 

A successful vocal teacher who makes a spe- 
cialty of training the speaking voice never allows 
her pupils to clear the throat or to cough, urging 
them to form the habit of swallowing when any 
irritation is felt in the throat. She insists that 
the muscular effort in speaking shall be thrown 
upon the lips rather than upon the throat, and 
she, with many other teachers, gives exercises for 
increasing the mobility of the muscles of the lips 
and face. 

Beauty refers to sound as well as to sight; and 
however beautiful in face and form, a girl is not 
truly beautiful without a sweetly modulated 
voice. 



XV 
THE GIRL OF UNDERWEIGHT 

There are not many girls who think that their 
weight is just right. One is too thin, and another 
is too plump; and the great problem is: " What 
can I do to turn the scales in my favor? " A 
great deal may be accomplished by a girl to bring 
her figure to normal proportions, and the earlier 
she begins, the easier will be her task. There is 
always a reason why a girl is too thin or too 
plump, and the secret of applying the right 
remedy lies first in discovering the cause — even 
if " it runs in the family." 

It is not uncommon to see two sisters with 
little difference in age, living in the same house- 
hold, — the one very thin, the other over-plump. 
So there must often be some underlying cause 
aside from the general manner of living, that 
in certain cases, it must be admitted, can be 
combated to only a degree. This cause is often 
the temperament with which a girl is born. 
Just think about this a minute, and if you are 
like one of " Pharaoh's lean kine," are you not 



THE GIRL OF UNDERWEIGHT 123 

very energetic, nervously so, I mean? Isn't 
your ambition much greater than your strength? 
Do you not plan ahead far more work than you 
can possibly accomplish? You " rush " through 
life, not taking time to enjoy your own memory 
garden. And then, above all things, do you not 
worry and fret when you are not able to live up 
to your ideals? There's a very old-fashioned 
term that expresses the attitude of many a 
" Martha," called " stewing." This is one of 
your greatest obstacles, and you must overcome 
it, for it will be only too easy for the lines to 
come at the best, and they cannot help coming 
when they are coaxed and cuddled by fretting. 
Wrinkles have been appropriately called " fret- 
work." 

Seek after cheerfulness, then, thin girls! Do 
not " enjoy poor health." Get all the brightness 
possible out of life, and what is far more to the 
point, put all the brightness into it that you can. 
Have you ever seen a plain girl suddenly become 
very pretty and attractive? I have, and for 
the reason that after living for years an aimless 
life she suddenly found some absorbing interest. 
What a beautifier this is, many of you already 
know. Be enthusiastic about what you do; you 
can never be happy or at your best at any time 



124 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

without enthusiasm. But stop at that point, 
and do not fret about results! 

Most of our annoyances are decidedly faded 
after a good night 's sleep. Almost invariably 
a thin, nervous, wiry girl needs long hours of 
sleep, and often she is the very girl who does not 
get this rest. You are probably weary of being 
preached to about " beauty sleep," but when all 
else has failed to coax a little plumpness, I have 
known girls to find sleep the magic touch that 
brought them both health and beauty. " Beauty 
sleep " is not confined to the early hours of night. 
It means much for a thin girl if she can snatch a 
short nap after lunch every day. Even without 
sleep the mere relaxation of stretching one's self 
out on a couch is beneficial, and eases the tension. 
Relaxation, rest, and sleep are good friends of 
the thin girl. Ten hours sleep at night! And 
comfortable warmth always, for cold is a foe. 
A glass of warm milk taken at this time, sipped 
slowly in order that large curds may not be 
formed in the stomach, helps along the good 
work. A raw egg is well added. The milk 
drinking is one of the favorite directions given 
by a noted skin specialist to his thin, nervous 
patients, and he lays great stress upon it. It is 
one of those simple expedients that are so often 






THE GIRL OF UNDERWEIGHT 125 

of great value, but which, on account of their 
very simplicity, especially because they require 
no money to carry them out, are cast aside. 

But several girls chime in: " You see, I can't try 
that because I do not like milk; it does not agree 
with me! " Now such statements are not often 
true if you take a little pains. Dilute the milk with 
lime water, a dessertspoonful to a glass of milk, 
and I am confident that you will find it easy 
enough to take in nine cases out of ten. Girls 
who do not care for milk often like cream. Butter 
and olive oil, too, stand in fine in the thin girl's 
dietary. 

" Besides milk, what else shall I eat? " is so 
often asked. Nourishing and easily digestible 
food is the answer. You can eat with benefit 
many of the favorite but forbidden viands of 
the plump girl. 

Besides avoiding extreme mental strain, the 
thin girl must not overexert herself physically. 
She must make herself as comfortable as possible, 
laying aside all pet worries. This does not mean, 
however, that proper exercise is not in order. 
" Muscle is the plastic material of beauty." 
The thin girl needs her quota of deep breathing, 
as well as plenty of outdoor sunshine. In order 
to get herself into condition to assimilate the food 



126 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

she eats, she must take plenty of oxygen to in- 
vigorate all parts of her body. She ought to 
keep her body in order both outside and inside, 
being sure that it does not become clogged with 
waste matter; for this clogging is one of the 
quickest ways of preventing the organs from 
doing their right work. Like a furnace choked 
with cinders and ashes, the body in such condition 
cannot take care of fresh fuel. 

The method of massage for the thin, nervous 
girl is quite different from that used to reduce 
weight. Massage for thin people is given to a 
great extent for the purpose of soothing the 
nervous system, not for stimulation. The mani- 
pulation is firm, but quieting; and the muscles 
are actually picked up to develop them. Finally, 
if special parts only need development — if you 
are thin " in spots " — the many appropriate 
exercises designed for such purposes will be a 
great help to you in your quest for symmetry. 

To sum up for the girl of underweight: Sleep, 
relaxation, rest, plenty of warm sunshine and 
fresh air, exercise below the point of over-fatigue, 
massage, a nourishing diet, and the determination 
not to " stew." 



XVI 

THOSE EXTRA POUNDS 

How often I hear girls remark: " But I don't 
see the sense in saying that exercise will make a 
thin girl fat, and a fat girl thin! " It does seem 
illogical, doesn't it? But the reason for it, appli- 
cable also to several other directions that may 
be given in common to both kinds of girls under 
discussion, is that the body must be kept in good 
condition before it will be able to seek its correct 
level, so to speak. Exercise in moderation will 
develop the muscles of the thin girl and help her 
assimilation, while in the case of the plump girl 
it will use up her excess of fat. The stout girl, 
too, must see that the criminative organs do their 
work well. 

It is often noticed that fat girls have small lung 
capacity. In certain instances their lungs are by 
nature undersized and the chest expansion is 
small. Deep breathing is as necessary for the 
stout girl as for the thin one. Indeed her exercise 
should be far more vigorous than that of her thin 
sister. I know one girl taking special " reduction 



128 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

training," who is swathed in flannel before she 
begins to exercise. Naturally, she perspires 
freely at the time, and her weight is gradually 
coming down to normal, for perspiration is an 
important factor in reducing weight. For this 
purpose tether tennis, rowing, bowling, golf, 
walking, and hill-climbing may all be recom- 
mended. 

Exercise should never be taken directly after 
meals, neither should a nap be indulged in at this 
time. Rather let some light mental or bodily em- 
ployment fill up the hour. Do not confine your- 
self to one kind of exercise. Vary it so as to 
bring all of the muscles into play. Massage, 
judiciously used, will help greatly to hasten the 
various changes in the body cells, thus getting 
rid of superfluous tissue. As a rule, stout girls 
do not seem so sensitive to little things, either 
mental or physical, as thin people, and massage 
in, their cases is regulated accordingly. Rolling 
on the floor, a form of self-massage, is a fine 
reducer. Throw down a rug. Now roll over 
and over in one direction several times, then 
reverse. If judiciously taken, Turkish and Rus- 
sian baths are beneficial. 

On the whole, it is better to be too thin than 
too plump, for an excess of fat may cause serious 



THOSE EXTRA POUNDS 129 

mischief. It makes one heavy and awkward, 
and finally the " fat walk " — the waddhng gait 
you know so well — develops, and I beg of you 
to avoid it! But more serious than this are the 
effects on circulation and respiration — the puff- 
ing from exertion — that you are beginning to 
feel on going up-stairs. Then, too, the organs 
of digestion, as well as other vital parts, suffer 
sadly from an excessive accumulation of fat. 

According to the laws of proportion, fat should 
constitute about one-fifteenth or one-twentieth 
of one's whole weight. This may vary ten or 
fifteen pounds either way without any special 
significance. But if there is much less than one- 
twentieth, the girl is lean or lank, while if there 
is much more than one-ninth or one-sixth the 
unhappy term " obesity " looms up before us 
with all its clumsy bulk. For we are not like the 
bear that stores up extra fat in the summer and 
autumn against the day of need. He finds in 
this store of fat his food and winter overcoat. 
We have a bountiful dietary at all times, and 
clothing suitable for the season as well, and it 
should be our aim, after attaining normal weight, 
to keep it. 

The condition of obesity was recognized many 
years ago, when William Harvey, the physician 



130 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

who discovered the circulation of the blood, 
ordered for a patient with the name of Banting 
a certain diet that has ever since been called the 
Banting method, commonly spoken of as ' Bant- 
ing.' At least half of this dietary consisted of 
lean meat. Only two ounces of bread a day were 
allowed. Fresh fruits and vegetables made up 
the remainder. 

As has been suggested, the tendency to accumu- 
late an unnecessary amount of fat in a large 
number of cases is a personal peculiarity merely, 
not amounting to disease. If you possess this 
peculiarity, let anti-fat remedies alone. 

You must adopt and live up to two principles: 
The amount of food that you are accustomed to 
take must be reduced; as much vigorous out- 
door exercise must be taken as you have time to 
give to it. Never less than an hour should be 
devoted to muscular activity. A three-mile 
walk is a matter of course in the battle with 
obesity. 

Do not sleep too much. Learn to move 
quickly. Do not lead a luxurious life! It isn't 
good for plump girls. 

Although it is not always the case that fat girls 
overeat, it is a general rule that they are too in- 
dulgent in the matter of food; especially are 



THOSE EXTRA POUNDS 131 

they prone to between-meal nibbling. There 
are few girls of this class, however, who do not 
resent such a suggestion. They generally con- 
fess to a rather poor appetite. 

Great common sense is necessary in the regu- 
lation of diet, for individuals vary widely in 
the power of assimilation. A good general rule 
is to reduce the amount of food to such a degree 
that the fat girl may lose about a pound a week. 
When the normal weight has been reached, the 
amount of food may be slightly increased so that 
the weight will remain practically stationary. 
Slow mastication will piece out limited rations, a 
very moderate amount of food satisfying hunger 
if you learn to " Fletcherize " fairly well. 

The girl who goes without dessert at the table 
because she is dieting, but who makes up for it, 
as did one girl, by eating candy in her room, will 
not meet with brilliant success in the effort to 
become slender. " Fat and forty " is the result 
of ignorance and indolence. On the other hand 
I do not believe in the no-breakfast fad. 

At the best, strenuous measures are never 
wisely undertaken by a girl herself. Before fol- 
lowing them she needs sensible medical advice. 



XVII 

IS CANDY-EATING HARMFUL FOR GIRLS? 

So many girls ask me how to decrease weight 
that I have carefully observed for some time the 
general habits of those who are too plump. There 
is no question in my mind but that in most cases 
stout girls are very fond of sweets, especially 
candy. For any girl who desires to retain a slen- 
der and graceful figure this is one of the first 
articles of diet that must be cut off. 

In a book on diet by one of the best authori- 
ties on this subject, I was interested to read that 
he gave by exact weight the amount of cane sugar 
that can be taken in general by one person daily 
without any bad results. This quantity he 
assumed to be a quarter of a pound. If you are 
fond of candy, I am afraid your spirits will drop 
on reading this, because when you consider how 
much sugar there is in cake, preserves, pie, and 
other sweets, you see that there is little oppor- 
tunity left for taking much candy. 

Many girls are distressed on account of pimples 
that they are not able to get rid of. When 



IS CANDY-EATING HARMFUL 133 

questioned about candy-eating they say that 
they like candy, but " Do you think that eating 
it causes pimples? " I certainly do. In young 
girls candy often causes pimples; the skin is so 
closely related to the digestive organs that any 
disturbance of the latter is extremely apt to show 
itself in the complexion. As a rule, if a girl finds 
herself with an interesting book and a box of 
chocolates before her, she is apt to let her palate 
run away with her good sense, and the next morn- 
ing, when she wakes up, she has a " dark brown 
taste " in her mouth. But, alas, this is not her 
chief complaint: she is conscious that her breath 
is unpleasant. 

I know of no commoner cause for this distress- 
ing trouble than an upset stomach, and no com- 
moner cause of the upset stomach than a large 
consumption of candy. I remember a girl 
who became fascinated with fudge-making. 
She confided to me that since she had been 
making the candy, and, of course, eating it 
at all hours, she had been told that her breath 
was unpleasant. This, she said, was some- 
thing that had never happened to her before. 
The other day an extremely pretty girl told me 
confidentially that for the first time in her life 
she had discovered that her breath was not sweet. 



134 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

On investigating the cause of this disorder, I 
finally asked her if she ate much candy. She 
looked guilty, but she was honest; I saw that 
she felt sure we had found the cause of her trouble. 
She said that frequently she ate half a pound or 
a pound of chocolates in one afternoon. She 
stopped the candy-eating after our talk, and 
since that time none of her frank friends have had 
cause to mention this uncomfortable subject, 
and she is happy once more. 

But when you do indulge in candy, to that 
very small extent that our dietitian has suggested, 
buy only the finest grades, and eat it immediately 
after meals. Not long ago a food inspector in 
one of the western States discovered that certain 
cheap Christmas candy which he secured was 
nothing more than simple sugar coated with a 
mixture of grease and iron rust. The coloring 
was used in order to make the candy appear like 
chocolate. It is only fair to say that such a case 
as this is rare nowadays, on account of the care 
that is given to the selection of the ingredients 
of candy, but the fact that such impurities have 
been found should make us cautious. 

Perhaps no other substance is used more fre- 
quently in candy-making than chocolate. The 
chocolate itself, combined with sugar so as to 



IS CANDY-EATING HARMFUL 135 

make a paste, is then moulded. The mixture 
is generally flavored with vanilla. Chocolate 
is sometimes adulterated, flour, starch, and arrow- 
root being used for this purpose. Sometimes 
the cacao butter is extracted, and cheaper fats 
and oils are substituted, but the most injurious 
adulterations are the alkalis and chemicals that 
are sometimes used. 

If you are troubled with a greasy skin, it will 
be well for you to avoid chocolate, either as a 
candy or as a drink, on account of the natural 
fats contained in this product. Chocolate is 
counted among the rich foods that the stout girl 
and the girl with the greasy complexion should 
be careful to eschew. 

A great many people cannot easily digest sugar. 
I well remember a roommate of college days who 
always suffered from the symptoms of a severe 
cold after eating candy. This may seem strange, 
but it is readily explained. The girl could not 
easily digest sugar, and the extra burden that 
she threw upon the digestive organs by eating 
candy caused a disturbance which resulted in a 
cold. 

I have frequently noticed that young girls, 
especially, are apt to be attacked by tonsillitis 
after indiscretion in diet, particularly after eating 



136 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

a quantity of candy. An overburdening of any 
part of the body taxes it so that it is not in a 
condition to resist disease. 

One cause of indigestion from candy-eating is 
an adulterant that is sometimes employed — 
paraffin. This is especially used in caramels in 
order to make them cut well when poured out on 
the mould, and it is sometimes found in old- 
fashioned molasses candy. Paraffin is not a poi- 
son, but it is an adulterant, and when taken into 
the stomach it is indigestible. 

Maple sugar is also often adulterated, much of 
it being made from brown cane sugar that has 
never seen a maple tree. Always beware of 
" fresh Vermont maple sugar " before the sap 
of the trees has begun to run. 

It is well for girls who are troubled with dyspep- 
sia to be quite certain that the disturbance is not 
due to candy-eating, for although sugar is a 
valuable food, it is for some dyspeptics very apt 
to cause an " acid stomach," heartburn and 
flatulence. It promotes acid fermentation in 
the digestive tract. When a concentrated solu- 
tion of sugar-candy is taken into the stomach, 
the mucous membrane is congested, and much 
mucus, as well as highly acid gastric juice, is 
poured out from the stomach walls. 



IS CANDY-EATING HAKMFUL 137 

The digestion of other foods may be easily 
interfered with on account of the large amounts 
of mucus which are poured out after the eating 
of cane sugar. We take so much sugar in ordi- 
nary foods, especially in desserts, that its ill effects 
on the process of digestion may be easily imagined. 
And if your digestion is out of order, how can 
your complexion be good? 

Do not understand me to say that sugar is not 
a valuable food, but eaten as it is by most girls 
without moderation, and at all times, especially 
in the form of candy, in which it is so concen- 
trated, it certainly is very apt to interfere de- 
cidedly with the process of digestion. The 
absorption of sugar is delayed in dyspepsia, with 
consequent tendency to fermentation. The best 
way to obtain sugar as a food is by eating the 
natural foods that contain it, such as milk and 
fruits. The sugar found in milk is the least liable 
of any of the sugars to ferment. 

As to the injurious effects of sugar on the teeth, 
there has been much discussion. There must be 
some ground for the idea that sugar is deleterious 
to the enamel. It probably is injurious indirectly, 
lodging in the crevices of the teeth, and so finally 
producing acids that eat away the enamel. 

One more point about candy is worthy to be 



138 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

noted. We are all familiar with the alcoholic 
filling of some confectionery. There is enough of 
this in certain kinds, brandy drops, for example, 
to establish sometimes the taste for this sort of 
thing, a most serious consequence of candy-eating. 
In these days so much attention is given to pre- 
vention of disease that when we know of all the 
harm that so easily comes from this apparently 
simple but common habit of candy gorging, we 
are ready to admit that the quickest way to 
remove one cause of ill-health is to spend the 
weekly allowance in some better way than at the 
confectioner's shop; for all the exercise, and 
bathing, and otherwise sensible diet that we may 
have adopted will not offset the evils that come 
from the overeating of sweets. 



XVIII 
THE GIRL ACROSS THE AISLE 

If you were sitting here by my side in the 
limited, as it skims along the icy rails, I would ask 
you to glance at the face of the girl in the chair 
across the aisle. Let us look at her together, 
and talk quietly a little about her troubles. For 
surely a girl whose mirror greets her every morn- 
ing with a reflection of sallow, leaden complexion, 
skin thick, heavy, patchy, pimpled; eyebrows 
raised; nose pinched and pointed; upper lip 
slightly lifted ; lower lip thickened ; teeth promi- 
nent; and the mouth-breather's strained ex- 
pression — such a girl undeniably has her troubles. 

Now troubles fall into two great classes : those 
we cannot help and those we can help. The less 
we think about the first class the happier we shall 
be, the stronger both physically and mentally 
to battle with and overcome the second class, 
that, ranging themselves before us in battle array, 
challenge us to conquer. Although your eye 
may not, like that of a physician, be trained to 
detect in faces cause and effect, you may easily 



140 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

learn to read the more salient signs of the broken 
laws of common hygiene. 

We know from careful students of that primi- 
tive race that it did not require the study of 
books to teach the Red Man the effects of mouth- 
breathing. One who sojourned long among the 
Indians remarks: " Civilized man may properly 
be said to be an open-mouthed animal; a wild 
man is not." 

The much vaunted modern civilization can 
often relearn some of Nature's laws from the 
savage. Certainly this neighbor of ours across 
the aisle could work a marvelous transformation 
in both health and looks by studying the good 
breathing habits of the old braves and their 
families. From the very beginning, the Indian 
papoose is made to breath through its nose until 
this habit is fixed for life. When put to sleep, 
the baby is lashed to a straight board, a pillow 
being placed under the head in such a way as to 
bend it forward a little, thus keeping the mouth 
closed. When the child becomes an adult, his 
gait is erect and straight, his spine is almost in- 
variably healthy, and his teeth, though devoid 
of toothbrush or dentifrice, do him good service 
till the end of his life. 

With what scorn and derision the Indian called 



THE GIRL ACROSS THE AISLE 141 

the early invader of his country " The pale face 
and the black mouth." It is said that to an 
Indian one of the most striking characteristics 
of the white' man was the wretched condition 
of his teeth. Various travelers comment on the 
fine shape of the Indian mouth, and attribute the 
evenness and regularity of the teeth to habits 
of good breathing. 

The teeth of savages of all ages, as examination 
of their skulls by explorers testifies, are almost 
invariably in excellent condition. It is believed 
that one cause of their preservation is due to the 
fact that the mouth in which they grew was 
closed a greater part of the time. 

Animals as well as savages, as a rule, breathe 
in a more sensible manner than many sensible 
people. Picture to yourself a mouth-breathing 
horse. What an absurdity! 

While in the beginning the mouth-breather 
may be said to have formed a bad habit merely, 
it will not take long for this habit to lead to 
disease. Even though not an habitual mouth- 
breather, have you not at some time waked up 
with mouth and throat dry and irritated? 
Doubtless your mouth had been open while you 
slept. Probably, too, you had a bad taste in the 
mouth, and felt fatigued and unrefreshed by the 



142 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

night's sleep, for one cannot have perfect rest 
with the mouth open. Perhaps at the time you 
suffered from nightmare, so often associated with 
mouth-breathing at night. 

The functions of the nose as an organ of res- 
piration are extremely important. The nose 
has been called a " great laboratory for the prep- 
aration of the food for the lungs." The relation 
between the nose and the lungs may be compared 
to that between the mouth and the stomach. 
And now for the preparation of the air food. In 
its passage over the warm, moist lining of the 
nose, air is raised to a temperature of nearly one 
hundred degrees, moistened, and finally filtered 
from various impurities. 

As it is evident that our mouth-breather can- 
not keep her lips closed without effort, we may 
feel sure that there exists some obstruction that 
demands attention. 

You are glancing now, I can see, at her wrinkles. 
There they are at the outer angle of her mouth. 
And, look, she has mislaid her ticket! See how 
anxiety has deepened the furrows that course 
down the face from the wings of the nose to the 
corners of the mouth. What a " lacking " ex- 
pression she has! 

When facing the mirror to-night, let your 



THE GIRL ACROSS THE AISLE 143 

lower jaw sag and see for yourself just what 
havoc in looks the open mouth works. Imagine 
yourself thus distorted applying for some coveted 
position. Have you the slightest idea that you 
would be successful? I would not advise the 
experiment. Experts in character reading tell 
us that nervousness shows itself strikingly in 
the mouth. An open tremulous mouth is an 
index of weakness. 

There is a story from Indian days of a quarrel 
between one of the pioneers and a Sioux brave. 
The Indian challenged the white man. They 
were to meet upon the prairie unattended, and 
fight it out with knives. Fortunately a recon- 
ciliation was effected by their friends before the 
duel took place. One of the white men after- 
wards asked the Indian if he had not been afraid 
of his antagonist, who was so superior in size 
and strength. " No/' said the savage, " I am 
never afraid of a man that keeps his mouth open, 
no matter how large and strong he may be." 

The eyes seldom lose their natural expression, 
but the mouth is subject to many changes, even 
aside from those due to faulty breathing. The 
mouth has been called " The greatest mystery 
in the material organization of man." From 
it comes an endless variety of sounds — the 



144 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

sweetest music and the discordant nasal twang 
of the person that knows not how to breathe 
properly. Listen now! This girl across from us 
is speaking, and, as commonly said, she " talks 
through her nose." As a matter of fact, she is 
talking through her mouth, leaving her nose 
out of commission entirely. 

Doubtless, could we meet the mother, she 
would tell us that her daughter always catches 
cold easily, is subject to bronchitis, and often 
suffers from indigestion — for this is the common 
story of the chronic mouth-breather. Now why 
does this train of ills follow what so many people 
consider merely an uncomfortable habit? Be- 
cause breathing is one of our most important 
functions, and when it is not properly performed 
the entire body suffers the consequences. Merely 
taking air into the lungs and breathing it out 
again does not by any means constitute the whole 
of respiration, for after air reaches the lungs the 
oxygen passes through their delicate lining to 
be taken up by the blood that carries this life- 
giving food to every cell in the body. Thus 
every cell breathes, and plays its part in respira- 
tion. Again impurities gathered up throughout 
the body by the blood are carried to the lungs, to 
be thrown off in the expired air. 



THE GIRL ACROSS THE AISLE 145 

But the aeration of blood is not the only 
function of respiratory movements. Breathing 
favors activity of the liver; by breathing, blood 
is drawn out and pumped into the brain. The 
movements of respiration so act on circulation 
that the nutrition of the entire body is influenced. 
It is well known that breathing exercises are 
often of special benefit in nervous troubles, in 
insomnia, and in many other disorders. 

A certain German writer says: " Rise from 
your table, take deep inhalations, move your 
arms with rhythm, and your ideas are clarified, 
and your conclusions become logical." 

If we do not breathe correctly the blood can- 
not be in good condition, the brain will not be 
sufficiently nourished; the digestive organs, the 
heart, the lungs, the muscles, and the skin are 
all bound to suffer. You see at a glance how our 
girl friend reflects in her complexion the baneful 
effects of mouth-breathing. 

When we know that the act of respiration is 
repeated about twenty thousand times every 
twenty-four hours, and when we learn that if 
the tiny air cells in the lungs were spread out 
flat we should need a room fifty feet long by forty 
feet wide in which to lay down this carpet, the 
importance of the correct breathing of fresh, pure 



146 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

air must surely be brought home to us. And 
remember that the most vital principle of proper 
breathing is taking the air in through the nose. 

Although you may not be conscious of breath- 
ing through the mouth, are you sure that you 
always breathe through the nose? In order to 
convince yourself that you do not use the mouth 
for breathing, read aloud several sentences, or, 
indeed, several pages, and observe if, during this 
time, you close your mouth. If you do not, you 
belong to the class of unconscious mouth-breath- 
ers. If you have suffered the jibes of the family 
on the score of snoring, fasten vertically across 
the lips a small strip of surgeon's isinglass plaster. 

It is wise to make a practice of taking several 
" meals " of fresh air daily. If deep breathing 
causes dizziness or fatigue, practise the exercise 
less vigorously, taking first ten breaths in ten 
seconds, gradually decreasing the number of 
inspirations until without any discomfort you 
can expand the chest to its utmost capacity. 

As nose-breathing becomes a habit, the disa- 
greeable hacking cough and throat clearing that 
has annoyed us so much in our neighbor disap- 
pear. If she realized that the remedy of mouth- 
breathing lay to a large extent in her own hands, 
surely she would not consider any effort she 



THE GIRL ACROSS THE AISLE 147 

might make too great to secure the comely looks 
and firm health that come from good breathing 
habits. 

" Shut your mouth and save your life " is 
the abrupt warning of an eighteenth century 
student of the Red Man. A proverb of this 
people, " old and unchangeable as their hills/' 
we might well adopt in these modern days of 
hygiene worship : " My son, if you would be 
wise, open first your eyes, your ears next, and 
last of all your mouth, that your words may be 
words of wisdom, giving no advantage to your 
adversary." 



XIX 
DUST DISEASE AND COLDS 

Have you ever heard of " dust disease? " 
Possibly not, for only recently has this term been 
introduced. But now the disorder has been 
carefully studied, and has its name in " the table 
of contents." When a girl is afflicted with this 
disease, she feels much as she does with a common 
cold. She loses her energy and feels miserable. 
She has wandering pains and is " achy " all over, 
while the most striking symptoms of the head 
cold assert themselves vigorously. The cause of 
this condition is said to be the inhalation of dust, 
city dust in particular, in which are mixed up all 
sorts of debris, particles of dried sputum contain- 
ing bacteria being the most injurious. 

This disease is very common in our country, 
where the disgusting habit of careless expectora- 
tion is so freely indulged in. As a medical writer 
well says: " One of the most serious obstacles 
in the way of clean living in towns in this country 
is the especially American expectoratory pre- 
rogative." 



DUST DISEASE AND COLDS 149 

It is interesting to note that inmates of insane 
asylums are remarkably free from such affections 
as colds, bronchitis, and pneumonia, doubtless 
because the patients are not allowed to expecto- 
rate on the floor or walks. Thus no infected 
sputum can be tracked into the house, where it 
will pollute the atmosphere. 

A physician some ten years ago began to keep 
a scrapbook. He had an old ledger of 1863, 
dusty and musty with age, that he thought would 
do very well for the purpose. But after digging 
it out from a pile of rubbish up in the garret, 
and arranging it for pasting, he caught a severe 
cold. At the time, the connection between the 
dusty old book and his cold did not occur to him. 
But some months later, after spending an hour or 
so over the book again, he promptly caught a 
fresh cold. When this had occurred a number 
of times, his attention was attracted to the coinci- 
dence, and he then experimented on himself. 
The result was that every time he worked over the 
book he caught cold. Then the book was given 
a thorough airing, sunning, and beating, the 
covers and binding being wiped off with an anti- 
septic solution. The doctor has never since 
caught cold after using the book. Such instances 
could be multiplied. 



150 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

It is well known that night attacks of asthma, 
as well as colds, are sometimes due to dust from 
feather pillows. North Pole explorers are free 
from this affection until they return to civiliza- 
tion, when they suffer from it again. This 
disease is seldom found among the Japanese, for 
they are very dainty and cleanly in their habits, 
and change their footwear before entering the 
house. 

" Dust disease " is often supposed to be an 
ordinary cold. It is most common in the spring 
and fall, when the streets are especially dusty 
and dirty. 

Have you not often caught a hard cold just 
after returning to the city for the winter? At 
this time many so-called colds are really due to 
infection by the city dust, from which you have 
been free for all the long weeks during which 
you have been breathing fresh, pure, country 
air. If you are trying your hand at housekeep- 
ing, you should see that all the hot-air pipes are 
taken apart and cleaned every fall before the 
furnace fire is started, in order to remove the 
accumulated dust of summer. The remedy for 
" dust disease " is pure air. 

But how does one catch cold, — just a plain, 
ordinary, old-fashioned cold? Colds are a result 



DUST DISEASE AND COLDS 151 

of a disturbance of the circulation. Very often 
a small part of the surface of the body is chilled, 
and the blood is driven out of this region and 
forced to the inside of the body, to the internal 
skin, as the mucous membrane lining the air 
passages is called. The excess of blood congests 
these tissues, setting up an inflammatory con- 
dition. If the lining of the nose is especially 
affected, you feel " stuffed up." And well you 
may, for the nasal tissues are swollen, and soon 
begin to secrete more than the normal amount 
of mucus. 

A description of the symptoms of a cold is un- 
necessary, for we have all experienced them so 
often that they are fresh in our minds. Sore 
throat is common during the winter and spring 
months; so is hoarseness. The symptoms de- 
pend upon the part that is especially affected. 

The infectious character of colds is scarcely 
doubted now. Microbes play their part in very 
many cases. 

You may have heard of the classical St. Kilda 
cold. This island in the Western Hebrides har- 
bors about one hundred inhabitants, who never 
know what a cold is till a ship arrives. Then men, 
women and children, unused to coming in contact 
with this disorder, begin to sneeze, and a cold 



152 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

becomes the universal complaint, even the little 
babies not escaping. After this epidemic many 
are well until the following year, when another 
ship appears. The arrival of ships from the 
larger ports, such as Glasgow or Liverpool, is 
more dreaded than that of those from the other 
islands of the Hebrides, for the St. Kilda people 
declare that the colds are much worse in the for- 
mer cases than in the latter. 

It is an extremely common occurrence for a 
cold to make its way through a family or a school 
or any other group of people who are closely asso- 
ciated. This fact testifies to its microbic char- 
acter. The best way to avoid catching cold is to 
observe the ordinary rules of hygiene. The 
clothing should be evenly distributed over the 
body, and suitable to the season and climate. 
Soft wool worn next to the body is a great pro- 
tection in our changeable climate. Adapt your 
clothing to the state of the weather. Some girls 
have a special calendar day on which they change 
the clothing from one season to another. This 
custom is not sensible. The temperature is our 
best guide. 

Always be careful not to chill a part of the skin, 
as happens when a draught blows on the back of 
the neck. Wet feet must always be avoided; 



DUST DISEASE AND COLDS 153 

but if by any accident your feet do get wet, keep 
moving until you can change your damp shoes 
and stockings for dry ones. In this way the circu- 
lation will not be too much disturbed, and you 
will not be apt to feel any ill effects from the 
exposure. Exercise in fresh air is a great pre- 
ventive of colds. 

But when the cold has once started, how are 
we to throw it off? It is said that when Gladstone 
caught cold, he at once went to bed and sent for 
a doctor. He realized that a cold might moan 
serious results, and he took no chances. 

Unless a cold is attacked very vigorously and 
intelligently at its outset, it will run its course. 
Then there is little to do, except to try to keep 
it from extending from the region first affected 
to other parts of the body. Many colds start 
with a " raw throat." Frequent gargling with 
some antiseptic solution will do a great deal to 
check the trouble, and limit it to the part first 
attacked. A saturated solution of boric acid is 
excellent for this purpose. The principle of 
taking a hot bath and drinks of hot lemonade or 
flaxseed tea is sensible, for this treatment tends 
to restore the circulation to normal. Great care 
should be taken not to get chilled afterwards. 
It is a good plan to wrap one's self up well in 



154 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

flannel blankets directly after the bath. The 
Turkish bath, observing the same precautions, 
is also in order, as is the mustard foot bath. 

And it is always well to take a laxative at the 
beginning of a cold, one that will act quickly. 
If hoarseness develops, much relief may be ob- 
tained by inhaling the vapor from a solution made 
up of a pint of boiling water and a teaspoonful 
of the compound tincture of benzoin, or liquid 
tar. Throw a towel over your head as you lean 
over the pitcher or bowl; or you may inhale 
through a paper cone. Breathe the vapor in 
through the mouth. 



XX 

DANGERS THAT WE MAY AVOID 

If our eyes were many times more powerful 
than they are, we would soon become conscious 
of a teeming world about us that passes now for 
the most part unnoticed. In our every-day lives 
we could avoid many dangers, if we would give 
only a little more care and attention to the ap- 
parently small details of ordinary living. 

The little creatures that have attracted so much 
attention in the last half century are tiny vege- 
table organisms. It is almost impossible to real- 
ize how small they are, but it has been estimated 
that at least four hundred millions could be spread 
over one square inch in one layer only. Many 
serious diseases are traced to the door of these 
" Lilliputians." 

When suffering from a boil, you are apt to 
think that the trouble has come from within. 
Now, the truth is, it is apt to have originated 
from without from some external irritation. A 
favorite location for this painful inflammation 



156 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

is at the back of the neck. The stiff linen collar 
has perhaps a rough edge, and rubbing against 
your neck has irritated the skin, and put it into 
the condition of being an easy prey to infection. 
Then along comes the little organism with a very 
long name, and takes up its abode in the sore 
spot on the neck, and you soon say that the boil 
is festering. If you were to put a bit of the 
purulent matter under the microscope, you would 
see many tiny round bodies that in their shape 
might be compared to grapes. If you had taken 
off the stiff collar as soon as it hurt you, substi- 
tuting for it a soft stock, you would probably 
have avoided much suffering. That reminds me 
to warn you never to rub your hands over your 
face, as many girls so carelessly do, especially 
when warm and perspiring. Hands, though 
comparatively clean, generally harbor various 
microbes, and when you rub your face with the 
hands, off come the microbes! And sometimes 
these microbes cause considerable trouble. Many 
pimples are actually rubbed into the face. Gloves 
are even worse than hands, as you will soon 
realize if you stop to think what you have handled 
with your gloved hands. 

I see so many girls in the street cars putting 
money into their mouths. A most unclean 



DANGERS WE MAY AVOID 157 

habit! But uncleanliness is not the worst feature. 
This custom is positively dangerous. Again, 
one often sees the street-car conductor moisten 
a finger at his lips before shuffling out transfers 
to the waiting passengers. It is just as easy to 
take hold of your transfer by the clean end, or 
even to double over the damp edge so that your 
fingers will not come in contact with it. The 
habit of putting various objects into the mouth 
is a very strong and a very common one. I have 
seen a girl medical student in the typhoid ward 
of a hospital stop by a bed to examine the 
patient, and later put her pen into her mouth. 
This habit is most pernicious and dangerous. 
Keep your hands away from your face, and your 
complexion will be better; keep them away 
from your mouth, and both your complexion and 
your health will be the gainers. 

Never wash your face until you have first 
thoroughly washed your hands and poured out the 
soiled water from the basin. Keep a separate 
wash-cloth for the face. 

On using the telephone, do not put your mouth 
too near the transmitter, for if the instrument is 
in general use it offers a shelter for the invisible 
enemies. 

Fruit and vegetables should be carefully pre- 



158 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

pared before they are eaten, as they often harbor 
countless micro-organisms. 

Much has been written with good reason about 
the evils of indiscriminate kissing. This custom 
has greatly diminished of late years, but in some 
parts of the country it is still too common among 
mere acquaintances. It is especially to be de- 
plored when an innocent baby is the victim. 
Disease is easily transmitted in this way. 

But besides the bacteria that live in the air 
there are others that make their home in 
water. It is now a matter of common knowledge 
that many terrible epidemics of typhoid have 
come from the use of impure drinking water. 
You cannot tell from the appearance of water 
whether it is pure or not. All clear water is 
by no means germ-free, and you should be careful 
to use only that which is known to be pure. 

When a glass of water or milk is carried to your 
room, always keep it covered until it is used. 

Again, other bacteria live in the earth, espe- 
cially that of old gardens. Here is the favorite 
home of the lockjaw microbe. From the viru- 
lence of this germ comes the danger of running a 
a rusty nail into the foot. A wound should 
always be cleansed at once in order to remove all 
foreign matter from it as soon as possible. 



DANGERS WE MAY AVOID 159 

You may wonder how it is that most of us 
live at all when there are so many dangers 
lurking about. Because when we take ordinary 
care of our bodies, they have generally sufficient 
power of resistance to make the onset of the 
enemy of little or no avail. 



XXI 

HOW TO OVERCOME NERVOUSNESS 

Why is it that we, as a nation, suffer from 
nervousness to such an extent that a special 
name, " Americanitis," has been coined to ex- 
press our peculiar susceptibility? 

There are various factors to account for this. 
In the first place heredity has much to do with 
the sensitive, nervous organization of the Ameri- 
can girl. Nervous tension has been handed down 
to her, as it were. 

Again, neurasthenia often follows in the wake 
of some infectious disease, such as typhoid fever 
or influenza. La grippe left many neurasthenic 
victims in its trail. 

But perhaps, more than any other cause, pure, 
simple overwork is to blame for nervous exhaus- 
tion in girls. Are you conscious when you are 
overworking? Or do you not realize the strain 
till the mischief is done? 

A girl wrote to me the other day asking if I 
could tell her why she was so nervous and tired 
all the time. In addition to her hard studies in 



TO OVERCOME NERVOUSNESS 161 

the High School, she spent several hours daily 
in piano practice, but much as she loves music 
she finds the study too great a strain. It is a 
simple case of overwork. There is no need of 
being discouraged; the remedy is to spread the 
same amount of work over a longer period of 
time. Your life has not passed by when you 
have finished school; there are still things to 
live for. It is foolish to overcrowd your leisure 
with music study, while already carrying as 
many burdens as you can wisely bear. 

Many of us, to be sure, have not yet learned 
the signs of the progressive effects of overwork. 
I remember, when a young girl, hearing my 
mother say: " I have learned one lesson well, 
and it is this — to know when I have worked 
long enough. It has taken me years to learn it, 
but now I can detect the signs of approaching 
overfatigue. And oh, how much it saves me! " 

This is a hard lesson to teach, and a harder 
one still to learn. Few girls know that when 
nervously exhausted their nerve structure has 
undergone an essential change. In looking at 
their apparently well nourished bodies they can- 
not understand why they have no energy. It 
would take only a glimpse at their nerves under 
the microscope to show the cause of lassitude. 



162 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

Nerves, when well nourished, have tiny food 
granules in their cells. From these little food 
granules the nerve derives its strength to work. 
When the food is used up, the nerve cells are very 
different in appearance. They are irregular in 
outline and shrunken. How are we going to 
fill them out again? We must give them what 
they need, food, rest, and oxygen. 

Some experiments by a physician have been 
made on honey bees. The nerve cells of a bee 
examined in the morning, before it had started 
forth to gather honey, were large and full. They 
contained many little food granules, and were 
ready for a long day's work; in the afternoon 
the cells of the bee that had been working all 
day long were quite different from the cells of 
early morning. They were smaller, their outline 
was not round, being irregular instead, and here 
and there were tiny holes where the little food 
granules had been used up. 

And so it is with us. At the end of a long day's 
work the cells of our body are exhausted, and we 
need food and rest to restore them to normal 
condition. This is why we sleep. But if we go 
on, night after night, drawing continually on 
our reserve fund of strength, we shall find that 
it will take more than one night to restore the 



TO OVERCOME NERVOUSNESS 163 

normal tone. Far worse to make continual 
little drains by going to bed too late every night, 
than to break only occasionally into regular 
habits of sleep. 

We are very apt to find " nerves " among girls 
employed in a business capacity. Many of you 
try to do a hard day's work without a fair start. 
Do you eat a sensible breakfast, or do you take 
a cup of coffee or tea and a roll, and work till 
noon on that? Is this quite fair to yourself? 
And how about your luncheon? Do you have 
a chocolate eclair, or a piece of mince pie, or a 
glass of soda-water and a sandwich? Or have 
you done a hard morning's shopping, and do you 
run into a restaurant at noon for a dish of ice- 
cream and some cake? I know from your own 
confessions that many of you do these things. 
Before you get over being nervous you will 
have to become more sensible about your diet. 

According to one of our brilliant medical men, 
overwork means, in a large number of cases, too 
little oxygen. Consequently there is an accumu- 
lation of waste matter that acts as a poison. A 
great many confirmed invalids owe their con- 
dition to a chronic lack of oxygen. You cannot 
handicap yourself in any more serious manner 
than to work or sleep in stale air. Whenever 



164 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

you begin to question your vitality look to your 
ventilation. We spend one-third of our lives 
in the bedroom. And many of us breathe air 
during sleep that we could not tolerate in a sit- 
ting-room. It is an accepted fact that many 
cases of neurasthenia are due largely to lack of 
ventilation and open-air exercise. 

One great secret of nervous exhaustion is 
that we expend far more energy than is necessary 
in nearly everything that we do. Why do we 
feel so tired after entertaining a room full of 
company? It is because we have spent so much 
unnecessary strength in talking and listening. 
We have virtually talked with every muscle we 
possess. Notice for yourself some time in what 
a state of tension you are when talking with a 
friend — contorting your face, moving your head, 
gesticulating with your hands, and tapping the 
floor with your toes. Nothing about you is repose- 
ful, and you are not only tiring yourself out but 
every one who comes in contact with you as well. 

A very nervous girl was being trained by a 
teacher of elocution. Her attention was called 
to the habit she had of frowning continually when 
she spoke. In trying to gain repose of manner 
she paid especial attention to keeping the muscles 
of her face relaxed. She was feeling much en- 



TO OVERCOME NERVOUSNESS 165 

couraged with her progress when the teacher 
said: " But look at your hands." She looked 
at her hands and found them unconsciously 
clenched. After relaxing the muscles of her face, 
hands, and arms, the next admonition was: 
" Do not tap with your feet." 

Be careful, in relaxing one part, not to transfer 
the tension to another. If you learn to relax 
in a general way, you will worry less about una- 
voidable delays in cars and ferryboats, and you 
will cure yourself of such bad habits as trying to 
" push the car along; " and your temper will reap 
the benefit. The disposition is so quickly affected 
by the state of the nerves that you owe it to those 
about you to learn this lesson of relaxation. 

One of our pioneers in this line of physical 
culture tells us what to do in order to relax. Lie 
flat on the floor, since the body yields more readily 
to an unyielding surface. Stretch the arms out 
free from the sides, head turned neither to the 
right nor to the left, legs straight. Relax the 
arm and raise it slowly from the floor, " thinking " 
it as lifeless as possible. Now let it drop heavily 
back. Exercise each arm and leg in the same 
way, taking deep breaths after each movement, 
Then roll the body from side to side as heavily 
as possible, and conclude the exercise by lying 



166 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

in the first position, and imagining yourself sink- 
ing into the floor. 

An exercise which may be taken in a standing 
position, or sitting up in bed, is head rotation, 
rolling the head slowly around, making it as 
heavy as you can " think it." 

Another is taken sitting. Raise both arms 
heavily and with the least possible energy; let 
them fall as they will, relaxing all muscular 
effort. Breathe slowly and rest. These exer- 
cises train the body to relax as soon as one is 
conscious of tension. 

Do you know how to go to sleep? The benefit 
derived from the night's rest will depend to a 
great extent upon the manner of going to sleep. 

In the first place do not allow yourself to think. 
Never make plans for the next day's work, nor 
mourn about the failures of the day that is gone. 
You may stretch and turn as much as you like 
till you are ready to fall asleep. Then relax all 
of your muscles. Let the bed hold you up; do 
not try to hold yourself up. You can never re- 
lax perfectly in ordinary clothing, so your best 
lessons in relaxation are taken at this time. 

The very shape of our bodies is under half- 
conscious control. Perfect rest means the re- 
laxing of that control. 



XXII 

CRUSHES AMONG GIRLS 

" Margaret will not go to her brother's wed- 
ding! " said that young woman's aunt to me. 
" Will not go to her brother's wedding? " I 
repeated in astonishment. " Will you please 
tell me why? " And then the whole story came 
out. Margaret was a young Western girl who 
had been sent last fall to a fashionable boarding- 
school in the East. 

Her brother was to be married this January, 
and she was expected home to be bridesmaid. 
But, strange to say, Margaret was quite unhappy 
at the prospect. " She told me," continued her 
aunt, " that if her mother only knew the feelings 
that she had for her new girl friend she would 
never insist upon her coming home. It was too 
cruel to tear her away from this new friendship, — 
of course c if mother should insist, she would have 
to go.' " 

At first I laughed. It seemed so absurd that 
a girl who had been away from home for the first 
time, and for only a few months, should in such 



168 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

a short space have formed so ardent a friendship 
for a stranger that she did not want to go back to 
that dear nest where she had been brought up 
and cherished so tenderly all her young life. 
The incident set me to thinking, and took me back 
to my own college days. 

I remember with what perplexity I heard our 
President talk in chapel one morning on this 
very subject. He warned us against such foolish 
friendships. They are not friendships, and do 
not deserve the name. They are not even imita- 
tions; they might be called " flash-light " friend- 
ships, if the name which means so much is used at 
all. As a rule this malady in its most severe form 
affects the freshmen. The first homesickness 
is an awful feeling, and the next natural step is 
to grasp the nearest object at hand to fill up the 
aching void. This object is generally a girl. 

But the object of this mushroom affection is 
not always another girl. Sometimes all of a 
heart's devotion is poured forth at the feet .or 
behind the back of a teacher. There are certain 
teachers, just as there are certain girls, who seem 
to inspire this particular emotion. I know of 
one instance in which an instructor was requested 
to resign her position on this account. Although 
she was a brilliant woman and an excellent teacher, 



CRUSHES AMONG GIRLS 169 

her influence was considered so bad in this re- 
gard that she was asked to go elsewhere. It so 
happened that I had known of this same woman 
as a student. She had been noted, even then, 
for her number of " crushes " and her so-called 
personal magnetism. 

Some of you, I am sure, are feeling very resent- 
ful just now about all of this; you think that your 
deep feelings are being trampled on, and even 
held up to ridicule, perhaps. You feel this way 
because to you at the time these emotions seem 
real. But they are not real; they are a sham, 
and you will realize this later. If this teacher, 
whom you have suddenly grown so violently fond 
of, is worthy the name, she will soon inspire you 
with a sensible, wholesome regard that is very 
different from this emotional feeling that you 
have been experiencing. 

If a choice between the two had to be made, 
it would generally be better to lose your head 
(for your real heart is not concerned, though 
you think it is) over a teacher than over another 
girl. For the former is naturally on a sort of 
pedestal and more reserve must be shown and 
your feelings have to be restrained, which is so 
much the better for you, for there is more hope 
that you will wake up to the foolishness of the 



170 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

situation sooner than if your idol is another girl. 
There is, too, more chance of the older woman 
having sense and judgment enough to guide 
your feelings into more wholesome channels. But 
alas for you if the object of your adoration is vain 
and fond of admiration! She will then probably 
lead you on till the affair becomes a joke to your 
friends, and all of your pocket money is spent on 
violets for " her." 

We talk and think so often about health as it 
concerns our bodies, that we sometimes forget 
about it in relation to our minds and souls. 
When you are beginning to feel morbid, take some 
outdoor exercise; go out for a swim, or a row, or 
a horseback ride, or a brisk game of tennis or 
basketball, and your good sense will come to your 
rescue and put you into a healthy frame of mind. 

Girls are commonly thought to be more sus- 
ceptible than boys to morbid emotions. Girls 
stay in the house more, for one thing, while boys 
are outdoors playing ball, or climbing trees,, or 
swimming, or sometimes even chopping wood. 
And speaking of wood-chopping reminds me of 
what I heard a clever physician say not long ago 
to a very nervous girl. She had come many 
miles to him for treatment, and was on the eve of 
going back to her Southern home. He said, 



CRUSHES AMONG GIRLS 171 

" Well, what are you going to do when you get 
back home again? " 

" I really don't know," was the reply. 

" Then I'll tell you. You ask your mother to 
let you have a woodpile out in the back yard, 
and when you feel blue just go out there and 
chop wood ! Do it every day, before you begin 
to feel blue." 

Then girls are supposed to have a more sensi- 
tive, nervous organization than boys. If you 
feel jealous when you see your favorite teacher 
or chum walking with some one else, just make 
up your mind that your good sense needs bolster- 
ing up, and go out for some good fresh air and 
exercise. The world will look brighter to you 
when you come back. You will find it a good 
plan to take some other girl out on your jaunt 
with you. I do not mean in a spirit of resent- 
ment. Do not fall into the habit of thinking 
that you can be happy with only a certain few. 
Never was a greater mistake made. Keep your 
eyes open and your mind sensitive to what goes 
on about you, and you will find it a fascinating 
pursuit to see how interesting apparently stupid 
people will become if you are only clever enough 
to touch upon the subject that interests them 
most. 



172 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

Some girls easily transfer their devotion from 
one to another. You will wonder in the case of 
a girl of this kind " who it is now." Just as by- 
other extravagances, the normal, healthy feelings 
will soon become spent and the capacity for them 
stunted. When you go to a concert, even though 
you have your " best friend " next to you, do 
not sit and hold her hand during the performance. 
That does you no good, and when you think of it 
in sober earnest it is pretty silly, isn't it? And 
when you go out skating with the " dearest girl 
in the world " do not be miserable all the after- 
noon because your chum was ahead of you, and 
had the privilege of strapping on the dear one's 
skates. Take it philosophically. Perhaps you 
can be skate-strapper the next time, or perhaps 
by that time you will not care to be. It is a com- 
fort to remember, under such circumstances, 
that " what belongs to you gravitates to you." 

Would you want your big brother to know how 
you felt? You would be ashamed to tell him, 
because your common sense would come to your 
rescue, and you know how he would laugh at you 
and tease you. 

When you feel like crying, and you know that 
there is no good reason for it, you can just begin 
to suspect that you have been drawing too heavily 



CRUSHES AMONG GIRLS 173 

on that nervous system of yours. You need 
fresh air and sunshine and a good wholesome, 
cheerful friend to put you to rights. After your 
walk, come home and take a nap. When you 
wake up, you will not wish to cry. Give all you 
can in your friendships, but give of your best; 
do not give of your weakness. 



XXIII 

A GIRL'S ATHLETICS IN SUMMER 

While so much has been written of late years 
concerning the necessity for exercise, compara- 
tively little has been said about the dangers of 
over exertion. But that these dangers really exist 
many of us know from our personal experience. 
It is such a temptation to keep up with some 
other girl that it is extremely difficult to learn 
the lesson of our own limitations. Indeed, I 
know of nothing harder for a young person to do 
than to stop at the right time. A modern writer 
speaks of the " curve of health." Because we 
wake up some morning and do not feel as bright 
and energetic as we did the day before, is not a 
proof that we are losing health, or that something 
serious is going to happen, but it is quite possi- 
bly due merely to the downward stroke in our 
curve of health. 

The variation from day to day in feelings 
should, of course, not be too marked, but it is 
only normal that these variations should exist 
to a certain degree. There is undoubtedly far 



A GIRL'S ATHLETICS 175 

more temptation in summer than in winter to go 
beyond one's capacity, for in the summer all of 
the outdoor sports are continually inviting us 
to exertion beyond the rightful limit. No one can 
be as good a judge of your capacity for exertion 
as you are yourself. When you know that it is 
time to stop and rest, you should have strength 
of will enough not to be over-persuaded by some 
one who at the time is more vigorous than you are. 

Not equally capable of exertion at all times, if 
you do not use judgment in this matter, you may 
pay a severe penalty. This is applicable expe- 
cially in relation to the more vigorous games and 
sports. Take, for instance, tennis. There are 
times when you are physically incapacitated 
for indulging in any exercise. Instead, you 
should be lying down and storing up strength 
for the time when your curve of health is in the 
ascendant. 

The Japanese woman is often held up to us as 
a model of strength. She is compared athlet- 
ically with her brother, and she is so trained in 
the feats of wrestling that she can easily throw 
a strong man who has not had the benefit of her 
training. There are many factors to account for 
the difference between the Japanese girl and the 
average American girl. 



176 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

In the first place, the Oriental is the product 
of generations of untrammeled women. Heredity 
means so much. Her body has been allowed to 
be free and none of its parts has been bound in 
by clothes which hamper its functions and limit 
its development. She has had chest and dia- 
phragm free for breathing and her feet have been 
undistorted by badly fitting shoes. Still, with 
all these advantages of heredity and training, the 
Japanese girl, as well as the American, ought to 
realize that she has her limitations. 

I do not mean to decry physical exercise in any 
way; I simply want to call your attention to the 
fact that you should use due care and discretion 
on account of the peculiar constitution with 
which Nature has endowed you. You must 
conform to the law of your nature if you would 
keep yourself in good health. " And this law, 
while it is the glory, is not the weakness, but the 
limit, of womanhood." A healthy girl must 
have her occupations and her recreations, but 
these ought to be suited to her as an individual, 
both in kind and in amount; it is only when she 
overdoes that she injures herself, and happy is 
the girl who learns this lesson before she has 
wrought lasting harm to her health. Especial 
care is necessary in girls from the age of twelve to 



A GIRL'S ATHLETICS 177 

twenty, and unfortunately, this is just the time 
when girls are apt to be least judicious. 

The modern parent is not infrequently so ambi- 
tious for her daughter's distinction, both mental 
and physical, that she does not impose the proper 
restrictions. You have probably all heard of the 
English girl, Miss Fawcett, who, although she 
won a senior wranglership by four hundred points 
above the highest man, studied only six hours 
a day; two or three hours she devoted to outdoor 
sports. The English girl, as a rule, is far wiser 
than her American cousin, for she realizes the 
value of fresh air and judicious exercise. 

It has been said by those who have made care- 
ful scientific studies of these subjects that the 
secret of perfect health for girls lies in the habit 
of intermittent work and play. A girl who does 
housework, as a rule, is apt to be in better con- 
dition than one who is in a shop. The hours of 
the girl working behind the counter are shorter 
than those of the one working in the kitchen, but 
they are not broken up into intervals. Two 
periods of work of four hours each are far less 
fatiguing than one period of eight hours. It is 
the same old story of the heart, which, although 
such a diligent worker, separates its efforts by 
tiny periods of rest, If this principle of sufficient 



178 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

rest after periods of exertion were always held 
in mind and carried out in practice there would 
be far less necessity of a day or two being given 
up every few weeks. This has been worked out 
by careful calculation based on the history of 
thousands of girls. 

Overexertion mentally as well as physically 
does much injury to the young, growing girl. 
Do not understand me to say that ambition 
wisely curbed is not an excellent trait, for without 
ambition you will never accomplish your best 
in this world. But I mean when you are in the 
High School, for example, do not think more 
about gaining a prize than you do about your 
health; your health will be of more service to 
you than all the prizes in the world. It is just 
at this time, between the ages of twelve and 
twenty, that the foundation is laid of so much of 
our " Americanitis." 

I have known of many girls who were inca- 
pacitated for years through overexertion injudi- 
ciously timed. When the waste products of over- 
exertion accumulate in the blood we feel fatigued, 
and when their quantity passes beyond the normal 
limit we become ill. Breathless ness from exertion 
means that we have not been able to recuperate 
as fast as we have been using up material. 



A GIRL'S ATHLETICS 179 

What I have said perhaps applies rather to 
girls who are tempted to be too ambitious in the 
matter of physical exercise. On the other hand, 
there is the girl who exerts herself so little that 
she finally reaches the stage where any exertion 
appears to her to be too much. Lethargy is 
really the word for this girl's state, and if she 
would only rouse herself and stir up her unused 
muscles she would appreciate how much she has 
been losing by her former indolence. 

But to go back to summer athletics. Many 
times you can play nine holes in golf with great 
physical benefit, whereas eighteen holes would 
only exhaust you. 

It is just the same way with tennis; you could 
play a few games and feel all the better, whereas 
if you play all the afternoon, especially in the 
hot sun, you might not get over the effects for a 
week. Still at other times it would be better for 
you not to play at all, but to he in a shaded ham- 
mock with a book. 

As to sea-bathing, it is quite possible that some 
among you are not strong enough to indulge in 
this sport unless the water is quite warm. In 
any case you should observe certain precautions. 
Never swim within an hour and a half of eating. 
It is much better to stay in the water a short time 



180 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

only, than to spend an hour or more in swimming. 
Even if you are a good swimmer, it is safer to 
swim toward the shore than away from it. One 
should not indulge in swimming when fatigued, 
and a chilly feeling should drive a girl from the 
water at once. The sun and sand bath after 
the sea plunge is most beneficial, and a run on 
the beach after your swim is invigorating. But 
discretion must always be at your right hand, 
for there are instances in my acquaintance of 
girls who have been unbalanced mentally for 
periods of from one to five years through sea- 
bathing under ill-judged conditions. 



XXIV 

SUMMER EMERGENCIES 

Last Fourth of July, in a small town in Ver- 
mont, as a group of girls and men were sitting 
on the green, a careless boy threw a lighted match 
into the midst of the assortment of fireworks 
contributed for the evening celebration. One 
man quicker than the rest saw the danger and 
gave warning in time for the others to scurry 
from the place. He stayed behind, and made an 
attempt to separate from the mass the already 
ignited pieces. The explosion took place almost 
immediately, and his hands were badly burned. 

As the town physician had gone some miles 
out into the country to see a patient, the grand- 
mother in the house to which the injured youth 
had been taken applied the commonly used 
remedy of flour and water, binding up the burns 
with closely fitting bandages. Apparently this 
was helpful, and the danger of the treatment 
was not realized till the physician's return. He 
was inwardly much disturbed upon examining 
the wounds, knowing well that if any lockjaw 



182 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

microbes or other hostile germs had been lurk- 
ing around they had doubtless been made cap- 
tive by the close bandages, and by this time 
were making inroads which would result seri- 
ously for the patient. 

By the time the doctor could remove the 
bandages, the flour and water had hardened, 
and picking off these bits, piece by piece, was a 
tedious and painful process for the patient. 
When it was completed the hand was wrapped 
up in wet dressings, that were frequently changed, 
and happily the wounds healed without any bad 
results. 

The terrible danger in covering the burn with 
the paste, as was done in the first instance, lay 
in the fact that any microbes that might have 
been on the hand or carried into it by the injury 
were closely shut up in such a way that the most 
deadly results could well have been feared. 
There was no way in which the germs could ex- 
cape. It would have been far wiser to wrap the 
hand in cloths saturated with a very weak solu- 
tion of carbolic acid until the arrival of the 
physician. In a simple burn, one scarcely more 
than a scorch, cloths wet in water in which com- 
mon baking soda has been dissolved will give 
instant relief from pain. Sweet oil or carron 



SUMMER EMERGENCIES 183 

oil, the latter a mixture of equal parts of linseed 
oil and lime water, serves its best purpose in 
more severe burns when the skin has been broken. 
In such cases it is most unwise to cover the in- 
jury with anything like flour and water, for on 
drying the paste will adhere to the tender tissues, 
often causing considerable injury when it is 
removed. A girl whose face was badly burned 
at the shore last summer smeared it over with 
flour and water on retiring. She woke up in the 
night, finding, of course, that her face was covered 
with a hard cake of dough that cracked with 
every movement of the muscles. The pain and 
burning were so intense that she began to pick 
off the hard particles, thus injuring not only the 
skin but the tissues underneath. In telling of 
the incident only a few days ago she remarked 
that it took all summer for her skin to return to 
its normal condition. Of late years it has been 
a fad with many girls to brown their skins to an 
extreme degree by exposing them to the hot sun, 
especially at the shore. Indeed I have known 
of girls who, not having the opportunity of going 
to the salt water, have exposed their faces to the 
sun from their own " fifth flight back " windows, 
so as to look like a " summer girl." A heavy 
penalty is many times paid for such foolishness. 



184 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

Skin injured in this way often never regains its 
original delicacy. 

A bee sting is a common summer discomfort. 
Bees are most active during hot weather. Al- 
though one or two stings are not serious, it is rash 
to invite the onset of numbers. Any one familiar 
with the habits of these insects knows that if he 
puts a hand that has been freshly stung into the 
hive, he will be more apt to be attacked than he 
would if he had not been stung at all. It is 
suggested that the bees may smell the poison of 
the sting. However this may be, the fact is well 
known among bee keepers. 

A friend who keeps bees on her brother's farm 
in the summer relates some interesting facts 
about them. When a bee stings deeply, it is 
very difficult for him to draw out the barb, for 
this little weapon, as you may see under the 
microscope, looks much like a saw, and in pull- 
ing on it there is the same difficulty as in trying 
to extract a fish hook from the flesh. This girl, 
whose nerves are strong and who is of an investi- 
gating turn of mind, has had the patience, after 
being stung, to watch the manoeuvers of a bee. 
The insect, finding that he cannot remove his 
sting, begins to walk around in a circle as if he 
were loosening a screw. The action produces 



SUMMER EMERGENCIES 185 

the same effect, for he soon releases his sting and 
off he flies again. If he had not been given time 
to do this, he might have torn himself free from 
the apparatus — the sting and poison sac — 
leaving the barb in the flesh of his victim, thus 
maiming himself and perhaps causing his own 
death. 

The poison of the bee sting is said to be similar 
in its composition to that of the viper and scor- 
pion. The pain of a sting is intense and hardly 
adequately described by the Irishman, who said, 
as a bee attacked his finger: " Be jabbers, how 
hot his little foot is." 

Ammonia is perhaps the most simple house- 
hold remedy to apply to such injuries. Chloro- 
form will almost immediately subdue the pain. 
Mud is excellent and very soothing. It is said 
that the alkali in the earth is the healing part. 
Application of cloths dipped in cold water is often 
recommended, but a noted writer on bees highly 
praises the use of cloths wrung out of hot water. 
He also says that all rubbing or irritation of the 
sting should be avoided. 

If you are interested in watching bees, do not 
stand directly in front of the hive, so impeding 
the entrance and exit of the bees. This will 
annoy them. 



186 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

Mosquitos are to be dreaded, not only for the 
inconvenience of their bite, but from the diseases 
that they carry. Without going into any of the 
arguments which are so well known now through 
the daily press as to the relation between the 
mosquito and yellow fever, we must all admit 
that malaria, at least, is carried by these little 
insects. 

How many times have you thought of the 
microbes that flies carry around on their tiny 
feet? The common house fly is very fond of 
dirt and filth, and extreme cleanliness of the 
person and of the house does much to drive him 
to quarters more attractive to his taste. 

The common tradition among children that 
the " devil's darning needle " or dragonfly will 
darn your ears shut comes back to us involunta- 
rily as we think of all this horde of summer insect 
folk. 

Just as in the case of bee, wasp, and hornet 
stings, so in the itching of mosquito bites, and 
the stings of gnats (the Indians call them "no see 
'ems ") that fly to meet us on our entrance to the 
woods, ammonia affords great solace. 

But there are other things to avoid in the woods, 
especially if we are susceptible to poisoning. The 
poison ivy, so common in many parts of our 



SUMMER EMERGENCIES 187 

country and which the careless girl may so easily 
mistake for Virginia creeper, sometimes called 
American ivy and by others, less accurately, 
woodbine, menaces the unwary. The poisonous 
variety has only three leaflets, and in the fall its 
berries are whitish or dun-colored, while the vine 
that beautifully decorates so many homes and 
church walls has five leaflets and berries as dark 
as grapes when the autumn comes. Poison ivy 
or poison oak, when brought in contact with the 
skin, causes itching, burning, redness, swelling, 
and oftentimes even large blisters. For many 
susceptible to these poisons found in several 
varities of the Rhus, it is not necessary to touch 
the plant. The mere emanations from the 
leaves will bring about this unhappy state of 
affairs. For the inflammation, pieces of old 
linen wet in baking-soda water, a teaspoonful to 
a quart, or in lime water, are very soothing. 
Plain cream is perhaps as useful as any simple 
remedy. Strong soap-suds, too, will alleviate 
the pain. In the later stages, dry starch dusted 
over the spot is a well-known remedy. The 
inflammation generally subsides in about a week ; 
and one rarely suffers other than local discomfort. 
If you are ever annoyed by the persistent 
growth of the ivy in your yard or in places that 



188 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

you frequent, -a little sulphuric acid poured 
around the roots of the plant will kill it. 

If you are an indefatigable mushroom gatherer, 
you have probably learned to tell the edible fungi 
from the poisonous varieties. Many cases of 
poisoning are due to too much dependence upon 
certain old-fashioned rules not at all trustworthy. 
A well-known botanist says that " the safest 
line of conduct is to consider dangerous all mush- 
rooms that are decaying or infected; all that are 
in the immature button stage; and all that have 
the following characteristics; " then follows a 
long list of botanical explanations which are far 
too formidable to enumerate. However, one 
thing most valuable to remember is the cup-like 
formation at the base of the stem known as the 
" death-cup," because many mushrooms with 
this peculiarity are extremely poisonous. Those 
plants with a milky juice or with loose warts on 
the cap should also be avoided. Indeed one 
must be an expert to feel any certainty of the 
wholesomeness of these fungi. 

Beware, especially in the summer, of chicken 
salad that has been carelessly kept an undue 
length of time. Beware, too, of warmed-over 
veal pie. On your picnics look out for canned 
and deviled meats, and for shell-fish that you do 



SUMMER EMERGENCIES 189 

not know to be absolutely fresh. There are cer- 
tain ptomaines in infected meats whose poisonous 
action even prolonged cooking fails to destroy. 

Do not feel satisfied, then, that you are safe 
on account of the long cooking of food that is not 
perfectly fresh. Do not be tempted by its bargain 
price to buy over-ripe fruit. Here is a dangerous 
pitfall. 

The one who does marketing in summer assumes 
a large responsibility, for in man}' cases of summer 
illness careless buying is at fault. 

After all is said about the possible dangers of 
the warm days, it is the simple remedy that brings 
us relief from our trials; it is common sense and 
ordinary discretion that serve as faithful pilots 
to guide us through the waters of summer into 
the pleasant harbor of early autumn days. 



XXV 

DURING VACATION 

One of my favorite haunts is a little studio club 
tucked away high up in a big building in a corner 
of one of the old squares in lower New York. On 
a cool evening in the early spring, dropping in 
just at dusk for a cup of tea, I found a group of 
girls holding a symposium before the open fire. 
Each one was contributing a personal incident 
illustrating her peculiarities in the matter of 
travel. As I came in, an eccentric member of 
the club was reading, amid shouts of laughter, a 
note just received from a lawyer friend. 

" So you are on the wing again? " it ran; " I 
begin to suspect that you do not live in a house 
but upon a merry-go-round. If at any time it 
should stop long enough for me to call, I should 
be glad to do so." 

" And that," the reader added, " is the flippant 
way in which my friends treat my woes. Little 
do they know the agonies through which I go 
when I am getting ready for a journey." 



DURING VACATION 191 

" Agonies, indeed! " sniffed a tall blonde. 
" Why, girls, I found her at two yesterday after- 
noon perched upon her couch, calmly ripping 
up a waist that she had decided needed remodeling 
at once. The room looked like a rummage sale, 
but from her attitude of absorption in her work 
I concluded that the trip was given up. ' Not 
at all/ she assured me in her stately way, ' it's 
only postponed a few days.' " 

" I always do that," confessed the heroine of 
this episode. " I never plan a trip that I don't 
stop in the midst of packing to rip up a gown or 
hat, and then of course I have to change my 
dates." 

" Oh, I have a peculiarity worth two of that," 
said a dainty maid from the corner of the settle. 
" Thirty minutes before I run for a train I am 
always constrained to take a bath. It makes 
no difference whether I am at home or boarding — 
the whole house is always upset. I can hear the 
maid now, knocking on the bathroom-door and 
saying: ' I really don't see, miss, how you can 
possibly make that three o'clock train/ while 
I shout back through the keyhole: ' That's all 
right, Maria; you get the hall boy to take my 
bags over to the station and I'll get there in 
time.' 



192 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

" And I do, too," she added, chuckling. 

I heard her sister murmur something about 
making everybody else miserable during the 
process. That side of it hadn't seemed to strike 
la petite. 

This chatter took me back to early days in the 
Southern home, when my father used to walk 
the floor, exclaiming explosively: " Never mind, 
don't hurry her, let her alone; it's her train! " 

Well, I always did make that train, but the 
nervous tension left in my wake I've realized only 
in later years. 

It is just the doing of these unnecessary last 
things, the departure always in such a wild 
scramble, that makes girls lose their nervous 
equilibrium, when taking even a short trip. I 
can picture now the trembling condition of a 
college roommate who, before she left on a two 
hours' journey, went through emotional scenes 
with various friends, telling us that there were 
many things in her heart which she had not time 
to express, and leaving us with a feeling that we 
had attended her funeral. I could never help 
wondering during these scenes why she hadn't 
" expressed " herself in the frequent opportunities 
during nine months of the year. 

It is a matter of self-control and nervous 



DURING VACATION 193 

balance, not to mention common sense, to avoid 
rather than to court such scenes. 

The nervous balance will depend upon your 
physical condition. A good night's sleep before 
a journey is absolutely imperative, and the wise 
girl will wait a day or two longer rather than sit 
up half the night packing her trunk, and start 
off the next day nervously upset from over- 
exertion. 

Going on a little visit is less exacting on one's 
strength and temper, however, than a period of 
travel and sight-seeing. 

The modern interpretation of the old saying 
" one never knows a friend till he summers and 
winters him " is, that one never knows a friend 
till he travels with him. Traveling, even more 
than golf, brings out the most latent idiosyn- 
crasies. Tact will never stand you in better 
stead than when taking your vacation trip with 
a friend. The happiness of this outing is greatly 
dependent upon the harmony between your 
temperaments. When two girls are out of align- 
ment, it is not that one is all bad and the other 
all good, that one is a sinner and one is a saint. 
It is because the temperaments are incompatible. 
It is easy enough, as a rule, to read a possible 
companion sufficiently well to know whether or 



194 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

not she and you will take the same point of view. 
But it is not only her temperament that you have 
to consider. To be sure it is said that " to our- 
selves we are a sealed book/' but that seal is 
not set so closely that the covers of the volume 
cannot with care be pried apart. If you are 
constantly irritated by certain little mannerisms 
in a friend, do not choose her for the companion 
of your summer. If your mind is quick and 
intuitive, you will not enjoy a girl whose slower 
mind must travel through the maze of much 
question-asking before it can grasp an uncompli- 
cated situation. On the other hand, if your 
disposition is calm and even, do not choose the 
peppery tempered girl who jumps at conclusions. 
It is not necessarily girls of different characteristics 
who clash, but rather those of antagonistic traits. 
Once off with your chosen companion, you 
will find breakfast a test meal. It may be that 
your vis-a-vis is fond of her morning paper, 
while the news at first hand does not interest you. 
Or it may be that your eyes are not strong enough 
for newspaper print. I well know that the old- 
fashioned advice urges us to be pleasant and 
chatty at the breakfast table, not to be glum in 
the early hours, — but personal experience has 
turned another light on this picture. 



DURING VACATION 195 

It is a charming custom in England to name 
your own hour for breakfast, when it can be 
served either in your room or in the common 
breakfast room. 

A chatterbox like a gramophone will often 
drown the true music of a rarer mind, and if you 
have a strong personality and a frank manner 
of expressing yourself, try to subdue it in order 
that you may discover the mental charms of your 
quieter friend, who needs a good listener to 
develop her. 

One of our happiest narrators of travel has said, 
in discussing the inveterate question-asker on 
sight-seeing expeditions: " Do not ask all the 
questions that come into your mind. If you will 
only wait long enough there will always be some 
goose who will ask the questions that you want 
answered." The need of answers seems to be 
associated with telepathy. You will find diver- 
sion in trying this experiment, for nearly always, if 
you do restrain curiosity for a few minutes, some 
one else will phrase your question for you. 

It is said that each friend sees only one side of 
us, — the side she herself brings out. We have 
all known friends who draw out our best qualities ; 
others who constantly seem to be putting us in 
the wrong. Make it a study, especially on your 



196 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

journey, that you yourself draw out the best in 
your friend. It does not take much tact 
to avoid belittling her pet hobby. We must 
realize that at the very best and under the most 
favorable circumstances in traveling there still 
remain many annoyances and conditions of 
nervous fatigue that we never have at home. In 
addition to this, we are always in a less stable 
frame of mind to meet these conditions as cheer- 
fully and pleasantly as we would ordinarily do. 
Some days one will not feel well, while the other 
is more sprightly than she has been since starting. 
Another day one will particularly desire to see a 
certain object of interest that does not at all 
appeal to her companion. It is just at these 
crises that consideration for the feelings and 
tastes of the other will smooth the irritations 
inevitably arising on any trip. 

You will surely admit on returning home 
that efforts to cultivate in yourself adaptability 
to the companions and circumstances of your 
journey have been the strongest factor in all 
the experiences of travel in broadening and 
rounding out your character. 



XXVI 

THE GIRL IN BUSINESS 

It is said that the girl who most needs a vaca- 
tion is the one who has just had a vacation. 

Some of the effects of a holiday have to be 
pigeon-holed as demoralizing. The delight of 
perfect freedom and the habit of ease just en- 
joyed make one feel like a caged bird upon return 
to business routine. However, after the first 
day has passed, the later efforts to be business- 
like will not be so strenuous. It is breaking the 
new ground that is such hard work. Men feel 
this as well as girls. My dentist said last fall 
that it seemed as if his first day of office work 
would never end. Hours dragged like days. 

All the informalities permissible in the country 
and at the seashore must be folded away in the 
memory book, when one takes up again the daily 
task, and the freedom in dress has to be relin- 
quished. Unconventionality in dress is apt always 
to be conspicuous, but it is especially undesirable 
where one is thrown much with men in business. 

An eccentric girl well known to the inhabitants 



198 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

of a suburban town, priding herself upon her 
independence, apprenticed herself to a Boston 
milliner. Every noon hour during her short 
term of service, she paraded up and down a nar- 
row shopping street, bareheaded and with a 
small pincushion fastened conspicuously to the 
front of her dress. 

She was the laughing stock of all acquaintances 
who happened to meet her while in town, and 
every passer-by turned to ridicule her. 

Now is the time when one's ambition turns 
from mountain-climbing to the ascent of that 
ladder of success that stands in front of each one 
of us. No wonder, indeed, that there is the 
proverbial roomy region " at the top " of every 
ladder. It needs but the most casual observa- 
tion to be convinced of this. A brilliant New 
York business woman said in despair the other 
day to her stenographer, whose duty it is both 
to receive and deliver messages: " Miss J — ; — , 
you will ruin my disposition: you are gradually 
making me a nagger, and all because you will 
not assume the responsibilities that are given 
to you. It is not because you are intentionally 
disagreeable, or disobedient to orders. Your 
whole fault is heedlessness, — carelessness about 
little things." 



THE GIRL IN BUSINESS 199 

Miss J also belongs to that army of girls 

who, when asked if they have attended to any 
commission that has been assigned them, always 
glibly reply: " No, but I was just going to." 
This brings up the incident of the priest whose 
patience was worn threadbare by a girl who in- 
variably used this subterfuge. He said to her 
one day: " Mary, have you kissed the Bible this 
morning? " 

" Yes, your honor," she replied, " I was just 
going to." 

If always absolutely honest, straight-forward 
and frank in all business matters, you will soon 
find that your employer places confidence in you. 
A business girl can make no greater mistake than 
to try to " get out of things." When confidence 
in you is shaken even a very little bit, it is a most 
difficult matter to become reinstated. 

Many times, of course, you will be put in the 
wrong, often by sheer force of circumstances, 
and you will have the problem to solve: " shall 
I or shall I not make an explanation? " The 
answer will depend upon your own position in 
the matter. If you know that you are right, it is 
only justice to all concerned to explain, giving 
your reasons — not excuses — for the manner 
in which you have acted. I have found that 



200 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

such a course meets the approval of any reason- 
able man, and when one says, " if you will allow 
me to state a fact, not as an excuse but as my 
reason for so acting," it is generally accepted 
in the spirit in which it is given. If so expressed, 
even a disagreeable employer is put in the position 
where he cannot say: " I do not want any ex- 
cuses," and you will usually find him quite 
amiable about the matter. 

" It takes a rogue to catch a rogue," said a 
woman to me the other day. She is at the head 
of a large corps of clerks in a great business house 
in New York. 

" I have gained more important information 
about other people through young girls who 
answer the telephone than in any other way. I 
make it a rule," she added, " in my own office, to 
have the telephone girl inquire who wishes the 
information before any fact whatever is given 
over the 'phone, — even so slight a one as whether 
I am in the office, or not." Although this seems 
to one unacquainted with business matters such 
an unimportant detail, it is really often of serious 
moment. The giving of information is a great 
drawback to any business person. I know of 
a man who is confidential secretary to the head 
of one of the largest corporations in the East. 






THE GIRL IN BUSINESS 201 

His brilliant success is believed to be due in great 
part to the faculty he has of looking stupid. He 
is a man who never offers gratuitous information 
on any subject, and he is invaluable to his em- 
ployer. 

Perhaps the first step upward consists in the 
ability to distinguish clearly between social 
affaire and business. Said a woman who is 
widely known for her philanthropy, especially 
in relation to working girls: " I have no time for 
social amenities in the morning." It is this 
reason that makes her avoid all business rela- 
tions with girls whose families she knows in any 
way. 

I have heard men, too, express themselves 
most forcibly in regard to this very point. There 
is no time in the busy, modern day to inquire 
after the health of the various members of a 
family. These subjects are absolutely inappro- 
priate to pure business dealings. 

A man at the head of a large business enter- 
prise in a Western city said the other day to a 
woman in his employ: " I never used to appre- 
ciate the judgment of a woman in business, but 
I have come to realize the value of its intuitive 
quality." This same woman told me that time 
after time in their office, her intuition had proved 



202 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

to be far more useful in the conferences of the 
officials of the company for which she works than 
all the coldly reasoned out theories of the men 
concerned. " Results," she says, " have proved 
over and over again that a woman's intuition 
can solve problems that are too knotty for the 
masculine mind." 

In talking over this subject with her, I was 
more than ever impressed with the scarcity of 
girls who have the cleverness and courage in 
business to take the initiative. It requires a 
great deal of both qualities before a girl dares to 
leap to a conclusion — and act on it — that she 
does not reach through the usual routine of her 
business. 

" Indeed, it is this very quality of intuition," 
my friend continued, " that makes a woman 
more valuable to her employer than a conserva- 
tive man who has been carefully trained in 
business methods. The man becomes like the 
faithful dog who does the same things year after 
year, never using any originality." 

As she talked, my thoughts wandered back to 
an old Southern pottery. There, around in a 
circle, walked an old blind horse, day in and 
day out, year in and year out. He was a living 
cog in the machinery of that primitive indus- 



THE GIRL IN BUSINESS 203 

try, but he was as mechanical as the rope and 
iron to which he was only an added force. 

However, let the girl young in business beware 
of trying to bridge a wide abyss at once. Offi- 
ciousness in beginners is most offensive to the more 
experienced, and the daring girl just starting in 
might find herself at the end of the week with the 
chasm of the non-employed yawning at her feet. 
Leave the chasm-bridging to the woman who has 
learned how to do it, — to" the woman whom 
nothing escapes, but who usually appears to be 
looking at nothing in particular." 

It is always the clever girl, whether in business 
or society, who does not ask for details, but who 
is capable of piecing out bits of information by 
her own wit, and of adding two and two when 
they are given to her without asking for the 
answer. 

One of my college friends was nicknamed 
" The Objector," because no matter what sub- 
ject came up, or what view was taken of it, this 
girl, on principle, invariably took the opposite 
side. Do we not consider agreeable that person 
who generally agrees with us? Nothing so 
smooths out the daily task as contact with one 
who is always in a sympathetic attitude. Hard 
work passes as nothing if one's surroundings are 



204 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

congenial and if one's companions are warm- 
hearted, — simpatico as the Italians phrase it. 

" Tact is that indefinable something that makes 
friends of everybody, enemies of none, and yet 
has its own way." 

This is the quality that endears one to all. 
There is a type of girl who thinks that it is hyp- 
ocrisy to be agreeable. This girl does not know 
what tact means, and tact is the magic touch- 
stone of all success. 

Have you ever listened to a discussion concern- 
ing the disadvantages of employing women in 
business? If so, you have probably resented 
it without stopping to consider the possibility 
of truth in the assertions that seem to you so 
harsh. One of the strongest criticisms made 
about women in business is that they cannot be 
depended upon. Such a reputation is unneces- 
sary, for the average girl can always show herself 
trustworthy. 

If only you could get the right perspective 
and see yourself for once as others see you, on the 
morning after you have been to the theatre, 
followed by a little supper, I am sure the picture 
would be such an unpleasant one that you would 
not care to reproduce it. You come down to 
the office tired out, showing weariness in every 



THE GIRL IN BUSINESS 205 

movement of your body and in every line of your 
face. You had to get up in such a rush that you 
did not have time, as you generally do, to make 
yourself dainty, and you could not resist pinning 
on the bunch of violets that you wore last night, 
although you knew that they were faded — and 
faded violets are not attractive. 

Perhaps it is well for your own peace of mind 
that you have not had time to scan your face in 
the glass, for you look old this morning; you 
have no color, and there are dark lines under your 
eyes, and alas! your breath is not sweet, for you 
ate too many chocolates, and too much of the 
rarebit. These defects would be less noticeable 
had you made your usual careful toilette, but 
your hair " simply would not go up " this morning, 
and the consequent frowsiness is not becoming, 
to say the least. 

This is not the end of the story, nor to your 
employer is it the most important. The tele- 
phone bell rings, and you think you have a mes- 
sage for Mr. Smith, who is in the midst of an 
important business conference. However, after 
you call him to the 'phone, he discovers that it was 
Mr. Cohn who was wanted. Mr. Smith is naturally 
much annoyed as he returns to the interrupted 
conversation of which he has lost the thread. 



206 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

You have standing instructions to announce that 
Mr. Carey is busy when a certain person calls. 
But in some way you seem to have forgotten 
this, and so, before you realize what you are 
doing, you lead the unwelcome caller unan- 
nounced into Mr. Carey's office. Then you are 
called upon to take a letter, but you cannot 
seem to follow the thread of the dictation. You 
are much embarrassed to find that in transcrib- 
ing you are not able to spell; your head aches, 
you are deadly sleepy, and the machine never 
acted so badly. Everything goes wrong, and 
you suddenly begin to realize that you are very 
irritable, for on the days when everybody and 
everything seem to be against you "it is time 
to ask yourself a question." If quite honest with 
yourself, you find that the fault lies in you, and 
not in your neighbors, and certainly not in your 
faithful machine. 

Not long ago I overheard a woman at the head 
of a fashionable dressmaking establishment in 
New York City say that she dreaded Monday 
with all her heart, because the girls were abso- 
lutely demoralized. She went on to explain, 
saying that they all took Sunday for a gala day 
and not as a day of rest. They worked so hard 
having a good time all day, and late into the 



THE GIRL IN BUSINESS 207 

evening, that they were " worn to a frazzle " 
when Monday morning came, and were unfit for 
work all day long, most of them complaining of 
severe headaches. This accounts for " blue 
Monday " nearly always; and the first day of the 
week, that should find you at your freshest for 
work, is the one which the heads of business 
houses actually often have to count out, so far 
as real work is concerned, owing to the fagged 
condition of their employes. 

And if this goes on we know the end. Very 
likely the dear ones at home are dependent upon 
your exertions, and one day your employer calls 
you to him, and tells you that although he is 
ver} r sorry to dismiss you from his force, never- 
theless he feels that owing to the poor quality 
of your work he is obliged to make a change. 
It makes my heart ache to think of the distress 
that follows your announcement in the little 
home circle that night. And what have you to 
show for it? A few faded violets, a disordered 
stomach, and a clouded business record, that 
only your own exertions and common sense will 
be able to clear. 

This is not an unusual picture, for it is the true 
history of hundreds of bright, sweet girls who, 
if they would use even part of the discretion and 



208 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

sense with which they were born, would be able 
so to direct their lives as to get plenty of whole- 
some amusement without interfering in any way 
with their work. 

Amusement is really the complement of occupa- 
tion, and there must be harmony between the two 
as well as contrast. Amusement does not always 
mean play; change of work often offers the most 
satisfactory diversion. It is a good plan in 
daily work to rest your mind for a minute or two 
every hour by shutting your eyes and calling up 
some beautiful bit of scenery that you have 
looked at, just as it is well to rest your eyes, if 
your work is close, by looking off as far as you 
can for a minute or two every hour. Such 
habits are easily formed, and are very valuable 
in relaxing the tension of both mind and body. 

Now just a word about sleep. We can rest 
our muscles very well by lying down or by keep- 
ing quiet, but the brain and the mind must have 
sleep. A little English girl once said " we cannot 
make our minds sit down." The brain will be 
active to a greater or less degree as long as we 
are awake, and it is only sleep that will restore 
the worn-out cells. Keep then to the rule of 
eight hours' sleep each night. 



XXVII 
BEAUTY'S NECESSITY 

The story is told of a miller who was taken 
very ill. By the doctor's orders the entire ma- 
chinery of the mill was stopped, that the sick man 
might have perfect quiet. Instead of sleeping 
peacefully, the patient could not sleep at all, 
until the sounds to which he had been accustomed 
were once more renewed. 

Sleep is so greatly a matter of habit that regular 
hours and familiar sounds are important factors 
in bringing it about. Not long ago the truth of 
this was brought home to me on spending a night 
in the country. My ears, dulled to the ordinary 
city sounds, were on the qui vive when myriad 
birds began their chorus in a tree just outside my 
window the next morning. 

A well-known traveler who shows great endur- 
ance in his journeyings, in telling of his visit to 
the Grand Canon, mentioned that upon the com- 
pletion of the long and fatiguing descent from the 
Arizona line, he lay down in the midst of his party, 



210 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

and slept soundly for two hours under the 
shadow of a rock, awaking to outstride them 
all. 

History tells us that in the midst of the Battle 
of the Nile, some boys fell asleep on deck from 
sheer exhaustion, although the deafening roar 
of that frightful engagement was at its height. 
It is related of a certain engineer that he fell 
asleep inside his boiler while workmen outside 
were beating on it with their huge hammers. 
Thus is sleep influenced by habit. 

Although it is easy for some to sleep at any 
convenient season, with others the habit of taking 
advantage of the opportunity for sleep must be 
cultivated. 

It is taught in Oriental lore that refreshment 
gained through sleep is not a mere matter of hours 
thus spent. They claim that when the mind 
dwells upon higher thoughts as we pass into the 
realms of unconsciousness, it continues on this 
restful plane throughout the period of slumber. 

To-night, when ready for bed, take up a simple 
little story that leads you entirely out of your 
every-day routine. It will relax your tired brain 
in spite of the tension that has been gripping it 
for hours. It is especially valuable for girls of 
nervous temperament and for those who spend 



BEAUTY'S NECESSITY 211 

much time in intellectual work, to relax the mind 
entirely just before retiring. 

Scientists have discovered many interesting 
facts about sleep. The Italian investigator, Mosso, 
learned by experiment that the arm increases in 
size because of the extra flow of blood into it dur- 
ing sleep, and that the brain becomes smaller 
from the outflow of blood. Indeed it is this 
diminished blood-supply to the brain that is one 
of the most important factors in producing sleep. 
If this does not come about naturally, we may 
take ways to assist Nature. It is for this reason 
that one suffering from insomnia is often advised 
to eat some easily digestible food before retiring, 
in order to call blood to the stomach for the work 
of digestion. One physician, especially inter- 
ested in such cases, has advised keeping a little 
spirit-lamp b}^ the bedside, so that milk may be 
heated at regular intervals during the night, if 
the person is awake. The very act of going 
through this routine is supposed to induce sleep. 

Fatigue of the body and brain is one of the best 
preparations for sleep that Nature offers. But 
it is not left to her alone to fulfill all conditions 
for sleep, for we ourselves must withdraw the 
ordinary stimuli that reach the mind through 
the senses. For this reason we draw the curtains 



212 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

so that the eyes shall be deprived of light. This 
is why we court quiet for the sleeping-room. 
This, too, is why we remove all constricting 
clothing, so that the body may be perfectly re- 
laxed as it lies down to rest. If you are too 
warm, make use of some simple means to ensure 
comfort, such as taking a cool sponge, a short 
walk in the evening air, or a cooling drink. 

If you are chilly, take a warm bath, some warm 
drink, or toast yourself by the open fire. And 
the girl who habitually suffers from cold feet will 
find bedroom slippers or a hot-water bottle a 
great comfort. The old-fashioned warming-pan 
played a truly beneficent part in the domestic 
economy. Warmed night clothing and warmed 
bed clothing on a cold winter's night send one 
to dreamland in an atmosphere of perfect com- 
fort. It is a great art to properly adapt the bed 
clothing to one's individual needs. Such cover- 
ings should never be heavy. They should be as 
light as possible and warm — but not too warm. 

If you are obliged to share your bedroom with 
some one else, at least have your bed to yourself. 
It is impossible for two individuals to have ex- 
actly the same needs in point of temperature and 
hours of sleep. Many instances are told of de- 
clining health and strength in children and young 



BEAUTY'S NECESSITY 213 

girls who, for some reason, share the same bed 
with older women of the family. 

Another point about sleep that has interested 
scientists, has been the gauging of its intensity. 
Experiments have been performed with graded 
sounds which were employed at different hours 
of sleep. The work has been done with such 
mathematical precision that the variation of the 
depth — soundness — of sleep has been satis- 
factorily determined. 

It has been found that the deepest sleep occurs 
about an hour after one has retired; from the 
second to the third hour on, sleep is very light. 
The recuperation of the body, however, seems 
to go on just as well during the lighter sleep as 
at the earlier stage. 

If you will take the trouble to notice to-night 
just how you go to sleep, you will doubtless find 
that the entire brain does not lapse into uncon- 
sciousness at the same instant nor to the same 
extent. You can, as a rule, really hear sounds 
after you have lost the power to make conscious 
movements. When you awake to-morrow morn- 
ing, you may become conscious of sounds before 
you are sufficiently awake to make voluntary 
movements. 

During sleep our breathing is slower and the 



214 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

chest or costal type predominates over the ab- 
dominal. It has been found, too, that during 
sleep the eyeballs roll upward and inward, while 
the pupils are contracted. A well-known writer 
on physical and mental culture teaches her 
pupils to simulate sleep by making the eyelids 
heavy and drooping them by degrees over the 
eyes, as one would do when very drowsy. This 
is helpful in bringing sleep to restless and wakeful 
girls. One of her pupils has told me that upon 
lying down she closes her eyes in this fashion 
and pretends to look into her head. 

It is a common thing to notice that when 
sleepy the eyes feel as if they had sand in them, 
and one is apt to rub them involuntarily. In- 
vestigators tell us that during sleep some of the 
secretions are diminished — among them the 
tears. The surface of the eyes becomes drier, 
accounting for the feeling of irritation. 

They also tell us that drowsiness after a heavy 
meal is probably due in great part to the dilata- 
tion of the blood vessels of the internal organs, 
and so to the diminution of the blood flow 
through the brain. At the end of the day, 
however, sleep is associated with a dilatation of 
the blood vessels of the skin of the trunk and 
extremities. 



BEAUTY'S NECESSITY 215 

As a rule, girls do not realize what a very im- 
portant element of beauty is the early bed hour. 
It is not until the lines begin to come and the 
dark circles appear that they wonder if late hours 
have anything to do with these finger-marks of 
time. Ten o'clock is not too early for any girl 
to retire. If she is doing much mental work, or 
if she has fatigued herself to the point of nervous 
exhaustion — if for instance she is teaching 
school — then eight o'clock or a half hour later 
should be her retiring hour until she completely 
recovers her vitality. 

From all the experience that I have ever 
gathered from girls, I can but feel convinced that 
" beauty sleep " is not a mere term, but that it 
rests on a sure foundation. I feel sure that 
sleep before midnight is really more health- 
giving and adds more to beauty than any amount 
taken in other periods of the twenty-four hours. 



XXVIII 
THE SKIN: ITS ENEMIES AND FRIENDS 

One day in October on an outing in the moun- 
tains of one of our middle States, we stopped at 
a farmhouse to ask for a glass of milk. It is such 
a common thing to meet girl friends in all sorts 
of out-of-the-way places that it was hardly a 
surprise to find one here. 

As we had driven a long way that afternoon 
and the horses were weary, we did not need much 
urging to put up for the night. There were still 
several hours of daylight left that were devoted 
to a stroll along the beautiful roads. On our 
walk we came upon a picnic. With the true 
hospitality of this mountain region, the j^oung 
people insisted on our joining them. I was im- 
pressed with the blotchy complexions and de- 
fective teeth in the young girls who should have 
been at their freshest and best. 

That evening as we sat around the big open fire 
roasting apples and cracking nuts, we talked this 
over with our new-found friend. I asked her 
why it was that in a spot so smiled upon by 



THE SKIN 217 

Nature, so untrammeled by the limitations of the 
city, where fresh air and sunshine were limitless, 
there were the universal sallow and blotchy skin 
and imperfect teeth. 

She talked very frankly about it, for although 
she had been born in the old homestead where 
she had received us so kindly, she had been sent 
away to school several years before, and had come 
home imbued with many new ideas. She asked 
if we had noticed that afternoon at the picnic 
supper the wonderful variety of pie, the quantity 
of heavy cake, and the general indigestibility of 
the contents of the baskets. We had to confess 
that we had observed it. " That is no exception 
to the general diet here," she went on. " If 
you were to visit in almost any of the homes you 
would find, day after day, the same dishes appear- 
ing. The meat consists mostly of pork in every 
form; pork roasted, ham fresh and ham cured, 
sausages; oftentimes buckwheat cakes are eaten 
three times a day, greasy doughnuts, even in 
the morning, heavy cake, and pie — why, pie 
might be called here the staff of life — and we are 
not in the ' pie belt ' either, you know. I watched 
my chum's mother cutting piecrust the other day, 
and I asked her how often she baked. She said 
on the average, every other day she baked ten 



218 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

pies of different kinds, and there are only four 
in the family at that. I just wanted to start 
a cooking-class right then and there, where these 
girls could have the opportunity of studying the 
effects of foods and proper methods of cooking. 
I mean to later," she said, with a determined air. 

" What general diet would you suggest, for 
girls in their teens ? " she asked, turning to me. 

" ' Simple and nutritious ' are hard-worked 
terms/' I replied. " So let us name special foods 
that offer a sensible list for a ' teen girl.' At 
breakfast I would omit meat, substituting a soft- 
boiled egg. This, with buttered toast, may 
follow a cereal dressed with cream and sugar. 
Seasonable fruit — oranges, apples, berries, 
grapes — conclude the meal. Coffee and tea 
are better ruled out. Cereal coffee may be 
taken without harm. 

" For lunch a cream soup, bread and butter, a 
simple custard or pudding is sufficient. When 
dinner time arrives, a generous portion of tender, 
well-cooked meat — beefsteak, roast beef, lamb 
or fowl — thoroughly cooked potatoes, a vegeta- 
ble, and stewed fruit with wafers or simple cake. 
If the girl is hungry in the middle of the after- 
noon let her concoct an egg lemonade, using two 
yolks instead of one white and yolk. 



THE SKIN 219 

" Oh! if these girls here in the country would 
only eat vegetables and fruits instead of pie and 
doughnuts! If, too, they would make a rule that 
not a day should pass without drinking between 
meals, at least three pints of the delicious water 
we had at that bubbling spring this afternoon! 

" You might start a ' fruit-room ' such as they 
have in Australia, offering bread and butter and 
fruit for a pittance. 

" There must be other reasons, though, be- 
sides over-worked digestions, for the sallow skin 
and pimples," I mused. 

" Yes, of course there are," she replied. " If 
you could go into the bedrooms of most of these 
girls, you would find them wretchedly ventilated. 
Sometimes there is no attempt at all to introduce 
fresh air into them. They are often rooms with 
no sunshine in the day and little air at night. 
I know of many with only one window." 

" It is the same old problem," said I. " Girls 
cannot have clear skins, although they do live 
out in tins life-giving air for ten hours of the 
twenty-four, if they shut themselves up in stuffy, 
box-like rooms for the rest of the time. 

" Another hygienic lapse I notice here, is the 
little exercise that your girls take. Wherever 
they go they ride. Just look at the hill-climbing 



220 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

simply urging you to take it, together with the 
incidental perquisite of fine color! " 

" Still another important omission is the daily 
bath and rub," continued our hostess. " Of 
course it is not so easy or comfortable in these 
country houses to go through with this daily 
grooming, and of course the neglect shows itself 
in the complexions." 

" Yes, but as soon as girls realize that the skin is 
the surest index of bodily health — and age — then 
will they become energetic in bathing and rubbing. 
A smooth, healthy skin is proof that the tiny 
blood vessels are in good condition and are sup- 
plying needed nourishment. Let them wither 
and disappear, and there is a parchment-like, 
wrinkled skin as a result. So preach to these 
girls the effects of bathing, rubbing, exercise, 
the breathing of fresh air, wholesome diet, gener- 
ous water-drinking, and the transformation in 
good looks and health will have made an encourag- 
ing start." 

It is not alone in one part of the country that 
we meet these unhygienic conditions. Last 
winter, while I was taking care of an invalid 
friend in the Southern mountains, I observed that 
the girls in that region quickly lose their youth 
after twenty-five. The same lifeless skin, the 



THE SKIN 221 

same carious teeth, the same haggard, worn faces, 
and stolid look were to be seen in nearly all the 
women of thirty-odd. When I asked a friend 
about this, she said it was because these women 
worked so hard. At first I thought this might 
be the reason, but when I remembered the fresh, 
vivacious faces of many city women whom I 
know who work under pressure from morning 
until night, I could not attribute the difference 
in the appearance to blessed work. 

I am convinced that an interest in life is a neces- 
sary factor for the preservation of youthful charm. 
This, of course, must be aided by a common sense 
observance of the primary laws of hygiene, a 
knowledge of which is absolutely necessary, if 
girls wish to keep and improve the beauty of 
their young lives. 

The customs of these days are helping us out. 
It was only as short a time ago as our mothers' 
girlhood days that the grandmother of the family, 
though scarcely turned forty, sat solemn and quiet 
in the chimney corner, wearing an old lady's cap 
and knitting stockings. She was generally termed 
" granny." Imagine the horror of many of our 
modern women, who at that age do not look as 
if they had stepped beyond the bounds of youth. 

It is a common saying that there are no old 



222 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

ladies now, and this in its best and highest sense 
is a hopeful condition of the times. It does not 
mean that women can no longer grow older with 
grace, nor that they must dress as though they were 
still in their teens. Such a state is more pathetic 
than it is ludicrous. But it does mean that 
women now, whatever be their age, are full of 
the interests of life; are brimming over with 
sympathy for all the affairs of the younger mem- 
bers of the household. Surely nothing sweeter 
can be said of the mother in a home than that all 
of the young people enjoy coming in to see her as 
much, if not more than they do those of their 
own age. Such mothers are not rare in these 
clays. We know many of them. Truly the 
youth of the spirit is the gauge of one's years. 



XXIX 
CHRISTMAS JOY THAT GIRLS CAN GIVE 

When the air is rife with Christmas thoughts, 
I am sure many girls interested in the sick poor 
will be glad to know just what is really acceptable 
to those in hospitals. So I am going to tell you 
about a hospital with which I am connected, 
and one hospital is in general much like another. 
This special one, which is in the heart of the city of 
New York, was planned originally for children and 
young people, although now there is one good- 
sized ward for women. The building occupies 
the large part of a city block. 

Into the Dispensary Department are brought 
children of all ages and with various deformities, 
and after it is decided who are to enter the hospi- 
tal, they are sent upstairs into one of the wards. 
Some of the children have to be put into plaster 
jackets, with an iron rod curving up over the head; 
while others, confined by various kinds of appa- 
ratus, are kept in bed for many weeks, some of 
them lying there with a heavy weight continually 



224 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

pulling on a crippled leg. This treatment, however, 
mitigates the suffering. Again, there are others 
who can hobble about the ward on crutches. 
All donations to the hospital, including Christmas 
gifts, find their way to the stock-room. These 
donations often form a motley collection as they 
are ranged around the room to be sorted, invento- 
ried, and finally distributed. It is hard for some 
girls and even for older people, too, to realize 
what is true philanthropy. It is not generous 
to give away things that you do not care for, and 
which are of no earthly use; and yet many people 
feel morally uplifted after giving away clothing 
that they would not wear themselves. The 
matron of this hospital, who has all gifts in charge, 
told me that as soon as she cut the string of a 
package the character of the sender stood out 
like a photograph. You may be sure, however, 
that any of the following articles will prove most 
acceptable, for the list is a practical one, the 
outcome of years of hospital experience. And 
just here, for whatever you make, buy material 
that will wash well and that will look well after 
it is done up. Such material costs no more; it 
takes only care in its selection, but this care is 
repaid a hundredfold. 

Perhaps nothing is more useful for young or 



CHRISTMAS JOY 225 

old than a pair of bedside slippers. They look 
well in the wards. They are very simple to 
make, and they give ample opportunity for the 
display of individual taste, both in color and in 
pattern. 

Loose sacques are always in order. When they 
are for little children they may be knitted or 
crocheted, or they may be made of outing flan- 
nel. These will launder well. Short kimonos 
are very acceptable for young girls or women, 
when they are convalescent. There is a large 
variety of wash materials suitable for these. 
Eider-down sacques may be bought ready for 
wear, or they may easily be made. They come 
in pretty, delicate colorings, will wear a long 
time before becoming soiled, and they also wash 
well. 

If you have ever been very sick, you can remem- 
ber how weak you were when you began to grow 
better, and how heavy an ordinary book was to 
hold. You can sympathize with the little 
sufferer, lying on her back in a brace, with the 
use of only her arms. What a joy it is for such 
a child to have a number of scrap picture cards 
to look at! Even when well enough to play on 
the floor she will enjoy them. The foundation of 
these cards is a piece of light pasteboard; a box 



226 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

cover will do. In covering these your ingenuity 
can have full play. Some are made of pictures 
only. If you are making them for an invalid 
whom you know, you will have an idea as to 
what sort of pictures will best please her fancy. 
A little bright coloring makes the card especially 
attractive. A bit of poetry, a funny anecdote, 
or any reading matter generally adds interest. 
I will describe one that I am looking at now. 
It is six inches by thirteen in size. On one side 
there is a very attractive bunch of bright sweet 
peas. Next to this is the picture of a girl talking 
to her parrot. In another corner is an advertise- 
ment of a popular breakfast food, with a baby 
sitting in a toy wagon and waving its spoon over 
a bowl of the food, while a small boy, lying at 
full length beside the wagon, is on guard. Just 
beyond is a field of grain, which a man is mowing 
down with a machine drawn by two horses. 
Many advertisements offer admirable bits of 
action for such cards, as they are often really 
pictured stories. 

Scrapbooks not much heavier than these cards 
can be made of plain manila paper, one large 
picture being pasted on each cover, so that the 
book is made stiff enough to handle without 
bending. Then, again, you can make linen scrap- 



CHRISTMAS JOY 227 

books in the same way, using linen instead of the 
manila paper, the beauty of these being their 
extreme lightness. If you have only a few pen- 
nies, you can still make the book, for the pictures 
you can gather without cost from papers, boxes, 
fruit and vegetable cans. A pretty idea is to 
lay off the leaves of the scrapbook like the plan 
of a house, different leaves representing different 
rooms. Pictures of furniture can be easily 
clipped from furniture catalogues, and with the 
book spread flat, paper dolls may be made to 
carry on the various housekeeping arrangements. 
For a little child who has to lie on its back, 
whether in bed or in a wheel-chair, such a play- 
thing is a bonanza, and whiles away many a 
weary hour. Single stories may be cut from a 
magazine, and bound with fancy paper and two 
bits of ribbon. 

A very pretty quilt can be made by a club of 
girls. It is composed of blocks of unbleached 
muslin, seven inches square. The blocks are 
separated by strips of red, oil-boiled calico, two 
inches and three-eighths wide, the same being 
used for a border around the whole. There is 
no quilting, the red border being stitched simply 
on both sides with an interlining of unbleached 
muslin. The blocks are on one side only, the 



228 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

back being made of the calico. They are worked 
in various designs and colors. If you have a 
talent for drawing you can sketch your own design 
on the block; otherwise you can draw it off on 
oiled or even tissue paper, and work over it. 
When finished, each block is a picture, and some- 
times a name is worked below. One of these 
quilts is made of sixteen blocks; each girl could 
make one or more blocks, and they could be 
joined together at a " quilting bee." 

Dolls offer a never-ending source of amusement 
to girls. One little mite who was paralyzed from 
her neck down, the only muscles of her body that 
she could use at all being those of her face, en- 
joyed her dollies just as much as a well child 
does. As she lay helpless in her little crib, some 
child who could walk would arrange the dolls on 
the bed so that she could see them. She would 
chatter to them till she grew tired, and then some 
one would change the dolls all around and the 
play would begin again, and so the tot amused 
herself the whole day long. 

Girl patients like to do things with their hands. 
Many of them love to make doll clothes. Some- 
times there is a genius in a ward, like a little 
Italian girl in our hospital, who can cut and fit 
almost any known doll garment. Some children 



CHRISTMAS JOY 229 

cannot make the clothes till they are first cut out 
for them. Scraps of pretty material are most 
acceptable, as are also little work baskets. A 
" surprise ball " can be made by winding about 
any toy, such as a tiny doll, yards and yards of 
worsted. After the ball gets started, other toys 
may be put in at intervals. When the ball is 
completed, a crochet hook is stuck into it. The 
child begins to crochet some little thing, such as 
reins, and as she gradually unwinds the ball, 
the hidden treasures fall out. 

Beads are fascinating to girls. Even little girls, 
not more than three years old, will string beads 
by the hour. Older children can make bead 
ornaments of various kinds, such as chains and 
belts. 

Both boys and girls are fascinated with a tiny 
purse, especially if it contains a little coin. Last 
summer, when our hospital children came away 
from their summer home, each one was given a 
little pocketbook with a bright new quarter in it, 
and it was a delight to them all. A little money 
is a great amusement to these children. You 
will often find one child appointed treasurer for 
a group of friends. This official keeps a slip of 
paper on which are written the names of the de- 
positors, with the amount credited to each one. 



230 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

There will be: " Carrie, ten cents; Johnnie, five 
cents," and so on down the list. 

One day, one of our doctors asked a little chap 
how much ten from one hundred was. The child 
had no idea. " Well," said the doctor, " sup- 
pose I should give you a dollar to go out to buy 
ten cents' worth of candy; what would the man 
give you back? " Quick as a flash the child 
answered: " He'd give me the candy, fifty cents, 
a quarter, a dime and a nickel." 

Boys, especially those confined to bed, dearly 
love a little racket with a ball attached to it by 
a rubber cord. They can bat at this to their 
hearts' content, and they amuse themselves for 
hours in this way. 

Boys who can sit up enjoy playing jack-stones, 
and if they can win a game from a nurse happiness 
reigns. A boy who has to lie on his back loves 
a whip as well as his sound-limbed brother. A 
whip or a ball, even if he can do nothing but look 
at it, is a great delight. And there is such an 
infinite variety of balls to choose from, rubber 
balls, with maps on them, balls attached to a 
rubber cord, fastened at the other end to a ring 
slipped over the finger, and many other kinds. 

Kindergarten boxes of material may be pur- 
chased for a song, and many delightful things 



CHRISTMAS JOY 231 

may be made from them, such as baskets, picture 
frames, and dolls' hats. 

If you are in the neighborhood of a ten-cent 
store, you will be astonished at the amount of 
happiness that can be purchased for fifty cents. 
At these shops, you can get dolls, balls, woolly 
sheep, cows, and horses; tiny cups and saucers- 
checkers and dominoes; handkerchiefs with 
bright borders, or printed with animals, " art 
studies " which the children spend hours over, 
filling out the pictures with colored crayons; 
and many other treasures. 

Perhaps by this time you are wondering what 
all this has to do with " Pretty Girl Papers/' 
But do you not know that nothing is so conducive 
to health and beauty as pure joy and happiness? 
And the purest and most lasting are gained by 
putting aside the thought of self in an effort to 
lighten the burdens of others. And surely at 
the Christmas season our thoughts must go out 
with special tenderness to the sick! 



XXX 

A LITTLE TALK ABOUT MARRIAGE 

What a mistake girls make when they think 
that in some magical way marriage must confer 
happiness upon them, almost in spite of them- 
selves! In reality domestic joy, like every other 
coveted possession, must be worked for, and earned 
by cheerfulness, patience, and forbearance, and 
by consideration for not only the tastes, but the 
idiosyncrasies of the husband as well. For al- 
though now you do not realize it, Prince Charm- 
ing is, after all, a mere man, and either likes, or 
does not like, baked beans and muffins, red paper 
or blue; and before very long he will be quite apt 
to express these likes or dislikes, often with a 
certain degree of enthusiasm. Some day, when 
his faults, which, by the way, you must pretend 
not to see, seem to be developing with alarming 
rapidity, just turn your gaze inward and try to 
see yourself with his eyes, for " even thou art 
a little queer sometimes! " " Both should burn 
up in the bonfire of first love all hobbies and 
1 little ways ' that can possibly prevent home 



A TALK ABOUT MARRIAGE 233 

from being sweet." Do not bring any " just 
my little ways " into the new home. The older 
you are, the more of them you will have. Mutual 
courtesy is, perhaps, the chief corner-stone of 
happy married life. 

Remember that your husband will depend 
upon you more than you will depend upon him. 
A bride does not always understand this, but 
it is one of the unwritten laws of matrimony. 

Look out for the first misunderstanding, for 
if you manage to steer your little bark safely 
by this obstruction you will find the same manceu- 
ver to be far easier the next time, and finally you 
will become such an expert that it will not be 
very hard to sail through a rough sea with con- 
siderable equanimity. It takes a great deal of 
self-control for the best of us to learn to five in 
perfect harmony for a lifetime with one who is 
at first a comparative stranger. But there are 
many little suggestions that your elders are only 
too glad to make, which, if you follow, will help 
you over many a difficulty. 

Do not think that it is unnecessary to make 
yourself attractive just because you are married. 
This is a sad mistake. Try even harder than 
ever before to make the most of yourself in every 
way. Men do not care for what other people 



234 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

do not value. Do not drop all of your other 
friends as soon as you become engaged, nor after 
you are married. You will both enjoy each 
other's society all the more if it is tempered with 
that of others. Variety only enhances the 
worth of what you care for most. 

Do not lose your individuality. An echo is 
always monotonous, and no good comes of it to 
any one concerned. But although it is well to 
have your own ideas about matters in general, 
do not argue, for that path is full of pitfalls. 
Don't nag! Don't exaggerate trifles. You 
can even afford to overlook them, as a rule. 
Use and cultivate your own intuition, for you 
have plenty of it, and it saves the necessity of 
many a question. 

Resist any tendency you may feel to serve as 
valet to your husband. Rather let him play 
the role of lady's maid for you. If you begin 
to brush his clothes and run for his slippers, the 
chances are that he will let you continue this to 
the end of the chapter. 

Some day your husband will probably forget 
your birthday, or the anniversary of your wed- 
ding day, but because of this do not think he 
has ceased to love you, and do not cry, and, above 
all, do not " mump! " Far better speak of the 



A TALK ABOUT MARRIAGE 235 

approaching holiday and give him a chance, for 
men are not apt to think of " little things/' and 
these make up the sum of women's happiness. 

You have stretched out before you in the 
married life the broadest possible opportunities 
for the greatest happiness that is ever offered to 
mortals. This is the normal life, where the 
dearest relationships exist. Do not mistake 
your privileges, nor fall short of what you can 
well attain. 

It is generally conceded that the most suitable 
age for marriage is for a woman between the 
twenty-fifth and twenty-ninth years, while for 
men it is several years later. However, all rules 
have exceptions, and so has this. Girls do not 
marry nowadays nearly as early as their grand- 
mothers did. My great-grandmother used to 
say that it was just as well for girls not to marry 
too young: " for if you wait a while,' ' she said, 
" and marry a good husband, you will be repaid 
for waiting. And if you are disappointed in him 
you will not have so long to live with him! " 
You see, she was too old-fashioned to consider a 
divorce. 

If you could only realize the joy of having 
your entire trousseau completed several weeks 
before the wedding day! I have a young rel- 



236 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

ative who had everything absolutely finished 
and folded away six weeks before her wedding 
day, and she is not a " prig " either. She had 
six long weeks to devote herself amiably to the 
family at home. She was not worn out and 
irritable and cross; and when her fiance called 
she was not " being fitted " by an exacting dress- 
maker. Such forehandedness will repay you 
many-fold. A young woman who was married 
early last year said that more tiring than any- 
thing else associated with her wedding was the 
enthusiastic admiration of her friends, who called 
in the last two weeks to see her presents and 
trousseau. She declared that she was worn out 
with: "Oh, isn't that too sweet!" "How 
perfectly lovely! " and so on, throughout the 
gamut of girlish gush. 

It is an excellent plan for both young people 
to have a conscientious physician's assurance 
that there is no contra-indication to marriage. 
Good health is one of the most essential founda- 
tion stones of a happy marriage. We have all 
seen girls marry to reform a man — have you 
ever seen it a success? What a man cannot 
accomplish before marriage, he probably will 
not care to do afterwards. If girls would only 
realize the suffering in store for them in such 



A TALK ABOUT MARRIAGE 237 

cases, there would be fewer unhappy marriages, 
for after all, girls do live happy lives without 
marriage. 

Long engagements are not wise; neither are 
very short ones. From six months to a year is 
a sensible time. Both spring and fall are suitable 
seasons for a marriage. Extremes of tempera- 
ture, either mid-winter or midsummer, are not 
favorable, for at both times the physical strength 
is more taxed than in the milder months. 

Sir Edward Bulwer says a man wants a com- 
panion for a wife. " He does not want a dancing 
animal, nor a singing animal, nor a drawing 
animal; yet these three accomplishments have 
cost many women years of painful toil to acquire, 
and they often marry a man who cannot appre- 
ciate any one of them." 

Loyalty to your husband is a jewel that you 
must carefully cherish. You remember Sidney 
Smith's definition of marriage: " It resembles 
a pair of shears, so joined that they cannot be 
separated, often moving in opposite directions, 
yet always punishing any one who comes be- 
tween them." Never let any one come between 
you and your husband! Never tell his faults 
to any one else. It will make you both misera- 
ble. Make him your confidant, and not another. 



238 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

True comradeship is one of your strong bulwarks 
of happiness. Always let him be sure of your 
sympathy and interest in all of his doings. 

A long bridal trip is a great mistake. Peo- 
ple are especially apt to be nervous and selfish 
on a journey. You will be much happier at first 
if you have a daily occupation to take up part 
of your thoughts. It is always wise to be as well 
prepared as possible for your new life. Learn all you 
can about the various branches of housekeeping, 
as well as house sanitation, for in that field you 
will be the General, and you must be prepared to 
command intelligently. 



XXXI 

IF YOU WOULD BE A PRETTY AND 
HEALTHY BRIDE 

It may be true that all clocks and calendars 
represent an equal amount of time, but this does 
not seem to apply to girls. It is as hard to spend 
time judiciously as it is to spend money wisely. 
Do you ever sit down quietly to take an account 
of your own assets? In other words, do you 
ever ask yourself the question: " How do I 
spend my time? M Are you getting the highest 
rate of interest for it that is offered? You cer- 
tainly would never put any of your savings in a 
bank paying two per cent, when there is as safe 
an institution next door giving three per cent. 

You have now three months by prosaic measure 
before the great event of your life. Nature has 
given us a certain amount of vitality, but with 
limitations. She leaves it to us to make the 
most out of her gifts. This takes common sense 
and careful thought. There is also another point 
of view: with this limited amount of vitality 
as our stock-in-trade, whatever time and nervous 



240 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

energy we fritter away is taken from what is 
really worth our while. 

It is a woman's nature to care for some one, 
and, now that Prince Charming has come to care 
for you, all that you do to keep yourself as he 
would have you is done for him. It is so much 
easier to do for other people than it is for our- 
selves that this thought makes the care of your- 
self a very easy one. Nothing is going to do 
more to make you pretty and healthy than to 
take plenty of rest during this time. Some of 
the prettiest and youngest looking women of our 
time, women like Queen Alexandra, and Dortzal, 
the French prize beauty, have early learned the 
secret of rest. The English Queen naps every 
day. While taking her daily drive, she reposes 
in the corner of a very easy carriage. In receiv- 
ing, she reclines in a chair arranged for her com- 
fort, with her back to the light. 

At the time the Empress Eugenie opened the 
Suez Canal, the number of entertainments given 
in her honor was appalling to one who knew that 
her beauty depended upon regular resting-hours. 
She said one night to one of her ladies-in-waiting: 
" I shall go home looking like a fright! Help me 
to arrange a resting chair." And at the next 
reception, to the admiration of the assembled 



A HEALTHY BRIDE 241 

courtiers, Eugenie reclined throughout the eve- 
ning in a comfortable chair, her tiny gold-slippered 
feet resting on a footstool, her one wish being, 
" If I can only keep awake! " The next morn- 
ing the French papers could not sufficiently 
praise this clever and beautiful woman, who was 
" unruffled all through such arduous duties of 
state." Little did they dream of the object of 
that throne. 

In contrast with the beautiful Eugenie, the 
Czarina, who is intensely highstrung and nervous, 
is continually " on the go " and never seems to 
rest. The Czar has tried in vain to teach her the 
lesson of repose, but she has not been able to 
master it. A noted woman who not long ago was 
visiting in Russia says: " The poor Czarina is los- 
ing all of her beauty and youth and freshness.' ' 

You cannot afford to forget what an advantage 
it is to your looks and disposition to go to bed 
early. Such a habit formed now will do much to 
bring you happiness in married life. I do not 
mean that you must give up all pleasure in the 
evening, but if you are out late one evening be 
sure to go to bed early the next night. In this 
way you will preserve a good balance. If your 
fiance" is living in the same town, it is a good plan 
to limit his calls to three times a week. You 



242 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

will both enjoy them all the more if they are not 
too frequent. The season of courtship is always 
a nervous strain, and it is only justice to yourself 
and to your lover to relieve the tension now and 
then. And do not overdissipate on Sundays. 
The way you feel on Monday morning will follow 
you throughout the week. If you are a girl in 
business, it may be impossible for you to take 
an afternoon nap, and the night's sleep will be all 
that you have to depend upon. You cannot 
overestimate its importance. 

The good looks and vivacity gained from out- 
door exercise will do far more to attract the 
" Prince " than will any amount of primping 
before your looking-glass. Then, too, when " he " 
does come to see you, plan so that you can spend 
a good part of the evening in the open air. 

If within walking distance of your business, 
avoid the cars. You will get in a great deal of 
valuable exercise by walking to and fro both 
morning and evening. If closely confined, you 
can at least " walk around the block " at noon, 
besides eating your luncheon. Do not omit a 
few simple breathing exercises both night and 
morning. They take only a few minutes, and 
they will do you more good than you can pos- 
sibly realize until you try them. 



A HEALTHY BRIDE 243 

Brides-to-be often ask me for suitable books 
to read. First, I should advise a good cook- 
book. Catering for Two is an appropriate one. 
The Boston Cooking School Cook-book, by Fannie 
Merritt Farmer, and Mrs. Henderson's Practical 
Cooking and Dinner-giving are among the best. 
If you are in business from morning until night 
you may groan at this suggestion, but wait until 
after you have tried its effects. You at least 
have time in the evenings for the mastery of 
chafing-dish recipes, and I assure you that you 
will never appear more fascinating to Prince 
Charming than when you are preparing for him 
some toothsome morsel with your own hands. 

After your marriage, even though you may 
have had no more time to devote to cooking than 
to learn the chafing-dish accomplishments, this 
knowledge will help you wonderfully, and will be 
an excellent foundation for all the intricacies of 
the art. If your home is so arranged that you do 
not have to do your own cooking all the week, 
this duty may fall upon you on Sunday night, and 
you will find that this is one of the pleasantest 
hours in the whole week, when you and he are 
all by yourselves with no disturbing element, 
and with the chafing-dish between you. All men 
love a domestic woman. 



244 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

An excellent little book that I often recommend 
to girls about to be married is Dr. Anna Galbraith's 
Four Epochs of a Woman's Life. It contains 
many a valuable hint for prospective brides. 
Then, too, you certainly should know something 
about the hygiene of your household, and I 
know of no better book for this purpose than T. 
M. Clarke's The Care of a House. 

A good general family doctor book is Roose- 
velt's In Sickness and in Health. A book on 
general hygiene will also be of value. Bissell's 
Physical Development and Exercise for Women is 
an excellent manual for this purpose. 

If your finances will permit, leave business at 
least three weeks before the wedding day and 
spend the last week in absolute rest. Nothing 
takes the place of a " bed-rest." One day spent 
in perfect quiet in bed will greatly add to your 
vitality. 

You will never regret having both outfit and 
wedding very simple. Such an event involves 
not only yourself in overexertion and strain, but 
all of those who are near and dear to you as well. 
A mother told me not long ago that it took her 
six months really to recover from the fatigue of 
her daughter's wedding. It is far better to have 
only those things that you really need, and to 



A HEALTHY BRIDE 245 

replenish your trousseau later with fresh gar- 
ments. 

Surely no one will make a happier bride than 
the business girl. She, more than any of her 
indolent sisters, understands what a man's life 
is, and can adapt herself to his point of view. 
She realizes what a haven of rest to him his home 
is, when she rightly guards it. When he returns 
worn out and weary with the day's turmoil, she 
knows enough not to ask him " What is the 
matter? " or " Why don't you talk? " The 
sympathy between such a girl and her husband 
is bound to be very deep and sweet. 

And deeper in the heart of life than all the 
rest lies your duty of holding to ideals. We 
must remember that it is the woman, particu- 
larly, who through her own nature is best fitted 
to stand for the beautiful and the refined. Even 
if the man you have married happens to be one 
of the intensely practical kind who smiles at 
ideals, nevertheless he will appreciate the beauty 
and power of yours, and will be uplifted by them. 
He may not perfectly understand them, but what 
man ever does perfectly understand a woman? 



XXXII 

HOW FOUR THOUSAND GIRLS FOUND 
HEALTH 

In recent years, letters have come to me from 
girls in every State of the Union and from many 
foreign lands, telling of the various ways in which 
the writers have found health. These girls, more 
than four thousand in number, have had not only 
the common sense but the self-control and 
strength of character to persist in using regularly 
some simple little hygienic pass-key, till they 
now see the results in good color, healthy skin, 
comfortable digestion, and light heart. 

It often takes a stronger character to put 
down an interesting book at a reasonable bed- 
hour than it does to accomplish something that 
we call great. It is the so-called insignificant 
things of life that show the true character, and 
yield the richest fruits. Special preparation 
can brace us for big things, but it is the fiber of 
the character as it lives day by day that supplies 
the strength to resist natural inclinations toward 
ease. 



HOW GIRLS FOUND HEALTH 247 

And what have these four thousand girls done 
to improve their health? The means they 
have used are in themselves simple, like most 
things worth while. The great part was in the 
doing. 

See How Simply This Girl Did It 

" I had nervous prostration. After two years 
I resumed my occupation — that of teaching 
in a large grade and directing two assistants — 
but found myself with irritable nerves and a 
constant feeling that my head would ache in 
just a minute. I determined not to give up my 
work but to do both that and improve my health 
at the same time. At the end of the year I 
found myself practically well, and this I attribute 
to two things besides daily exercise in the open 
air — a i slush bath ' and Saturday rest. The 
' slush bath ■ was taken as follows. Take a bowl 
of salt and moisten with cold water so that it can 
be taken up by handfuls. Rub this mixture 
over the body, rinsing with clear water and dry- 
ing with a coarse towel. Saturdays I stayed in 
bed, whether I slept or not, until about four in 
the afternoon; then after my bath and the rest 
of Sunday, I felt ready for a week's work. On 
Saturdays I rarely ate anything until dinner, 



248 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

as I found the rest did my stomach as well as 
my head good." 

Cold Baths Wouldn't Do for This Girl: 
So She Did Otherwise 

" I was nervous and wanted to improve my 
vitality. I tried cold baths, but found the re- 
action good only when I was already full of vi- 
tality. Hot baths were very beneficial in some 
ways, but weakened the skin so that it was made 
susceptible to cold. How to get good perma- 
nent results from the hot baths led to several 
experiments, one proving perfectly satisfactory. 
It is this: I made a saturated solution of sea-salt, 
into which I put five or six brown linen crash 
towels, which proved superior to Turkish towels 
for this purpose. Then squeezing the water 
out without wringing, I left the towels quite wet, 
so when they dried they were stiff with salt. 
Each morning I take the hot bath on rising, 
followed by a thorough rub with these towels. 
It leaves the skin in a healthy condition, and the 
general tonic effect is really surprising. In cold 
weather a dry rub with the salt towel upon re- 
tiring may be added. If the skin is sensitive to 
the harsh towel, rub very gently at first, but it 
will soon become accustomed to the friction, 



HOW GIRLS FOUND HEALTH 249 

and the increased activity of the blood has a very 
beneficial effect on the digestive organs, and on 
the nerves: it is also a protection against colds, 
which are a thing of the past for me." 

Great care, however, should be taken to choose 
the bath best adapted to each individual. As 
a rule a very warm bath in the morning should 
be avoided. Tepid water, gradually lowering 
the temperature, will generally prove more bene- 
ficial than hot. 

A Secret Athletic Club 

" A few of my friends and myself started a 
secret athletic club, — secret because secret so- 
cieties were the fashion. All girls were eligible 
who had bad complexions, walked with stooped 
shoulders, or had headaches: the age limits were 
thirteen and seventeen. Every week we met 
and practised walking, jumping, breathing, and 
other exercises. Each girl took exercises to 
remedy her particular ailment. For instance, 
in my own case, I was stoop-shouldered and had 
a bad complexion. I took walking exercises 
with a stick across my shoulder blades. When 
the girls met me on the street, they kindly and 
gently reminded me to stand up straight. I 
dieted and took breathing exercises for my com- 



250 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

plexion. Then we had general rules. Each 
girl could wear a corset, providing it was not 
tightly laced, but none was allowed to use powder, 
and only those with indigestion were allowed to 
use chewing-gum. 

" We had a grand review every year, and all 
vied with each other to be in the best condition. 
We went to a friend, a physician, and had our 
eyes, hearing, teeth, and whole body tested. The 
plan succeeded admirably, and to-day, at seven- 
teen, I enjoy rugged health, have a good com- 
plexion, and am often complimented on my 
graceful carriage." 

Other girls would do well to follow out the 
plan of the members of this club in their 
" teens " of having a careful physical examina- 
tion once a year. 

Two Good Exercises for Girls Confined 
All Day in an Office 

" It may seem strange that a girl should take 
to such a boyish game for exercise. But it has 
done wonders for me and some of my friends who 
started with me. I am employed in a large 
factory here where I have been for nine years, 
sitting steadily for nine hours every day. About 
six years ago I was doctoring for nervousness, 



HOW GIRLS FOUND HEALTH 251 

indigestion, and a blotchy face. I was completely 
broken down. The doctor said that I must leave 
the factory. I was earning twelve dollars a 
week, and could hardly afford to work for less, 
so I decided to take chances. I bought a ball 
and a glove to protect my fingers. At first I 
threw the ball as high as I could to catch it. 
Again I would call some little boy in to toss with 
me. Another way was to throw the ball with 
full force against the house, catching it when it 
rebounded. I practised every evening for only a 
few minutes. Now I can catch and throw like 
a professional, and I enjoy the exercise immensely. 
I have not lost a day's work on account of ill 
health for five years. My complexion is fine 
and I enjoy my meals. In winter I exercise with 
a pulley attached to the door frame. If girls 
would only take to outdoor sports like this it 
would put a stop to their ailments." 

Wood-chopping Gives Health 

" Totally worn out, and with my health ruined 
by confining office work, I was forced to give up 
a responsible position that had been gained only 
through years of faithful work. I tried in every 
way to regain my health, but in spite of all I 
could do I seemed to be daily slipping away from 



252 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

life. I could neither eat nor sleep, I had hardly 
energy to move, and my whole system seemed 
out of working order. One day I chopped a 
few kindlings for dinner; to my astonishment I 
felt better. I tried it again at supper time, with 
the same result. Thereafter I did it three times 
a day. At first a few moments of the work tired 
me, but each day I found that I could increase 
the time a little. To-day I am in perfect health. 
The exercise sent the blood tingling through my 
veins, straightened my bent shoulders, made 
new my weak lungs, exercised and strengthened 
almost every muscle, gave my whole body a warm 
glow, and gave me an appetite and refreshing 
sleep." 

The Good Effects of a Peaceful Meal- 
hour 

" During my last year at school my stomach 
gave out, and dieting and tonics both failed to 
relieve the trouble. We are a large, noisy, argu- 
mentative family, too much given to discussing 
life's unpleasantnesses at table. I talked it over 
with my mother, and she hit upon the idea of 
serving my meals in my room, at a low table in 
a sunny bay-window. The absolute calm of 
my surroundings worked like a charm the very 



HOW GIRLS FOUND HEALTH 253 

first meal. In a week I was able to join the rest 
down-stairs." 

An Ideal Luncheon 

" Sandwiches had long since palled, when one 
day I tried the experiment of a half-pound of 
figs. It was my most enjoyable luncheon for 
months, and I let the other girls at the office in 
on the wonderful discovery of fruit luncheons. 
The four of us club together and have two fruits 
each day, and we have grown quite scientific on 
the subject of what fruits go well together. We 
have one ' substantial ' fruit: dates (sometimes 
stuffed with nuts), figs, bananas or apples; and 
one merely palatable fruit, such as oranges or 
grapes; and we never have two acid fruits, as 
apples and oranges, for the same meal. After 
a while we noticed that our complexions were 
improving, and on comparing notes we learned 
that none of us had once experienced the pangs 
of indigestion that occasionally followed our 
sandwich-and-cake luncheons. Afternoon candy 
treats were an institution in our office, but we 
soon found that after a noon feast of fruit we no 
longer craved candy." 



254 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

A Girl from Germany Has Learned Moder- 
ation 

" I was always a very nervous girl, and school 
and big cities developed me into a neurasthenic 
patient. Without special physical troubles, I 
was never well, and gradually realized that 
doctors and medicines alone could not give me 
health, but that I must do my part. What did 
I do to strengthen my nerves? For one thing I 
stopped trying to copy other people! I do not 
take cold shower-baths any more, nor do I over- 
exert myself with athletics. I do not follow other 
people's dietary rules, nor do I take cross-country 
runs with English friends trained to such sports. 
Instead, I have studied my body, and know my 
physical and nervous limits. I am now a con- 
tented, healthy girl, well balanced and able to 
accomplish considerable work. I improved ma- 
terially by ' slowing up/ in a general way, by 
working, walking, eating, and talking more slowly 
than I did formerly. By training myself to this 
methodically, I find I can accomplish far more 
than if I were in a continual nervous rush and 
hurry — in fact as much as some of my strong, 
robust friends." 



HOW GIRLS FOUND HEALTH 255 

Regime for the Young Housekeeper 

" I am a young mother twenty-four years old, 
and have three little boys. For a while I became 
tired and nervous about noon; then suffered 
from a severe headache which would follow. 
As I could not leave either the care of my family 
or household duties, I tried my own remedy, 
which has cured me. After putting my little 
boys to bed for a nap, I take a quick sponge bath 
with cool salt water. I take simple head exer- 
cises — throwing the head back ten times, for- 
ward ten times, and so on. Then I put on fresh 
clothes and lie flat on the bed without a pillow, 
sometimes taking a short nap. I get up feeling 
fresh for my work and cheerful for the rest of the 
day." 

For Girls Who Are Over-ambitious 

" Like other girls, I have a great ambition 
to excel in some chosen vocation, and when obsta- 
cles came in my way, I would become fretful and 
irritable, thus working myself up to such a nervous 
condition that my strength would give way and 
I would be prostrated, feeling the nerves along 
my spinal cord pricking like needles. I would be 
unable to sleep or lie still, my muscles twitching 
involuntarily. Realizing that this condition 



256 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

would soon become serious, I tried to reform my 
views of life and my life's work. I now do the 
best I can towards success, and if I do not ac- 
complish what I have planned, I think it of 
secondary consideration. My health shall be 
first, for without steady nerves I cannot succeed. 
I throw aside disappointment, for it is only mine, 
and I am merely an atom in the great sum of 
existence. The result is a perfectly healthy body, 
sound sleep throughout the night, quiet nerves, 
and a happy, restful condition of mind." 

Doing Something That Counts the Best 
Tonic 

" Last year I was enjoying a continual round 
of dances, receptions, chafing-dish suppers and 
so on, sitting up late every night. Every morn- 
ing I woke listless, headachy, and without appe- 
tite. I fainted on the slightest provocation, 
and constantly suffered from nausea. Although 
I had never thought of teaching, I accepted a 
position that was offered me, and by September I 
was on my way South, — a rather frightened, 
homesick girl. I kept my nerve, took charge of 
the one hundred and fifty pupils, found every 
one cordial and helpful, and the novelty of the 
undertaking enjoyable. From that day to this 



HOW GIRLS FOUND HEALTH 257 

I have been like one made over new. There 
are no more breakfasts in bed, nausea, or fainting 
spells. I eat heartily and sleep like a top. I 
have not missed a day from my work. Although 
I am often tired, I enjoy my early bedtime the 
more. My recreations are basketball, shooting, 
and driving, and in the evening, concerts, the 
theatre, and so on. Do something worth while; 
it is the best tonic." 

A Very Important Problem 

" My mother died of consumption, leaving 
me with the housework, a brother of seven, and 
a sister of three to care for. In two years I was 
a nervous wreck. I cried nearly all the time. 
The doctor told me I would die as my mother had. 
I could not stop work, but I determined to live. 
My kitchen was dark and small, so I moved my 
work table out on to the back porch, which was 
large and shaded all day. The pump and drain 
were here also. I washed all dishes here, putting 
them through a window when clean to another 
table to be put away. I washed vegetables and 
did everything else on the porch. I moved my 
sewing-machine out, and sewed whole afternoons, 
and every time I thought of it I breathed deeply. 
I washed and ironed, sewed and darned, and did 



258 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

everything but cook on that porch. And I 
straightened up and took a long breath every few 
minutes. After each meal I took a teaspoonful 
of olive oil, and a raw egg with a bit of milk to 
make it go down. Whenever I felt faint or like 
crying, another egg went down. I took my bed- 
room window out completely, simply shutting my 
blinds if it stormed too hard. By fall I was well 
and strong, but I work on the porch yet." 

A Good Motto for Us All 

" A great loss at home changed me in one short 
month from a happy schoolgirl to the home- 
keeper with the care of a baby sister. My sorrow, 
combined with my responsibility, soon began to 
tell upon me, and I became disheartened and 
rebellious. This state of mind showed itself in 
my body, in the form of headaches and pale 
cheeks. I soon realized that I must do some- 
thing, so I adopted the motto ' keep sweet/ and 
then did everything possible to live up to it. No 
matter what annoying, discouraging thing came 
up, I ignored the disagreeable side and looked for 
the bright. If little sister cried, I sang the j oi- 
liest song I knew, and peace reigned much sooner 
than by the ' spanking method.' I cheered 
other worried ones, sympathized with the little 



HOW GIRLS POUND HEALTH 259 

sorrows of the neighbors' children, and sent home- 
grown flowers to the sick and aged. If I disliked 
any one, I persisted in doing them little kindnesses 
until their pleasure made me happy, and I posi- 
tively learned to like them. What was the result? 
In less than six months my headaches and tired 
feeling had taken ' French leave! ' My eyes 
are now bright, my cheeks rosy, and I am buoyant 
and happy with the mere joy of living. And all 
because I changed my outlook on life." 

Imagination and the Power of Relaxation 

" Although outwardly calm, I had long been 
troubled by an inward nervousness or tenseness. 
I practised relaxation. Whenever I found my 
muscles growing tense, I put aside my work 
and lay flat on my back for about ten minutes. 
First I would let the jaw drop. It made me feel 
idiotic, but I persisted. Then I would relax the 
arms, trying to make them as limp as water. 
Closing the eyes, I would imagine myself molasses 
and oozing away at the finger-tips, or a frozen 
rag with warm water applied. Then I would 
try the same plan with the lower limbs, and 
finally with the whole body; or, sitting on the 
edge of a chair, I would let the body slowly sag 
forward until arms and head nearly touched the 



260 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

floor. My sleep is now restful, I do not waste 
energy, and I can do double my former work." 

One Day at a Time 

" I am a dressmaker and inclined to be nervous. 
I overcame this trouble to a great extent, how- 
ever, by the following means: Just as engagements 
were sought, they were made and entered consecu- 
tively, and filled accordingly. Never would I 
allow a customer to rush in one day with an order 
to be completed the next, except in case of ' mourn- 
ing ' clothes, but always practised ' first come, 
first served.' I have also discontinued sewing 
until eleven and twelve o'clock at night, as I 
formerly did. I also reserved one day a week in 
case of sickness, bad weather — being lame, I 
cannot go out during the worst — for home needs 
and any emergency that might turn up." 

An Early Bed Hour 

" My good health I can trace to plenty of sleep. 
I have merely acquired the healthful habit of 
retiring early — anywhere from nine to ten 
o'clock. By so living I am able to rise at a 
reasonable hour in the morning, and go to my 
work with a pleasant countenance — very neces- 



HOW GIRLS FOUND HEALTH 261 

sary to success. I am really enthusiastic over 
plenty of sleep. Before acquiring this habit, 
I was anything but healthy; I was nervous and 
ill-natured — but those days are past." 



XXXIII 
PHYSICAL CULTURE IN A NUTSHELL 

Five minutes a day is all the time that is necessary for 
these exercises. 

The First Step Is to Let Go 
Many girls need to learn the secret of relaxa- 
tion more than they need exercise. No better 
time can be found to practise this than during 
a railroad journey. 

The first step is to become conscious of your 
tense condition. If you will put your mind on 
the subject you will discover many times that 
you are trying to push the train along. You may 
find your teeth pressed together, or your hands 
grasping the arm of the seat as if you were in a 
dentist's chair. If you find that you are uncon- 
sciously raising yourself up from the seat, make 
your body as heavy as possible as you sit. When- 
ever you discover any tension from your head to 
your feet, just let go and relax. 

How to Reduce the Abdomen 
Lie on the back, flat on the floor, with the 
hands clasped under the neck. Lift the left leg 



PHYSICAL CULTURE 263 

to perpendicular position, toes extended away 
from the body, and return to the floor in first 
position. Repeat with right leg. Practise al- 
ternately twelve times. 

Again lift the left leg to perpendicular and 
lower to floor, carrying the leg outward as far 
as possible. Return to first position, keeping 
the heel on the floor. Repeat with right leg. 
Practise alternately twelve times. 

If continued, this exercise will make the hip- 
joint flexible, and will tend to reduce the super- 
fluous fat of the abdomen. 

To Keep the Waist Slender 

While during the summer your waist muscles 
have been kept stretched and in condition through 
the games and outdoor exercise which you en- 
joyed, the days have now come when you will 
spend many hours indoors. You will need the 
extra impetus supplied by your daily five-minute 
exercise to keep the waist slender. 

Stand in erect position and without inclining 
the head raise the right shoulder toward the ear 
as high as possible. Slowly depress the shoulder 
as far as possible, at the same time raising the 
left shoulder. Repeat four times. 

Now as you raise the right shoulder, at the 



264 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

same time depress the left shoulder, and bend to 
the left side as far down as you can. Slowly come 
to the same position on the right side. You will 
then have the left shoulder high and the waist 
bent over on the right side and stretched on the 
left. Repeat four times. Practise twice daily. 

To Straighten Round Shoulders 

Stand erect, weight on the ball of the foot, 
with hands on the chest, fingers pointing hori- 
zontally toward each other, elbows on a level with 
the shoulders. 

With the eyes raised toward the ceiling, slowly 
bend the body forward at the hips, keeping the 
eyes fixed on the point that you have chosen. 
Do not let the elbows sag. You will feel the pull 
on the muscles down to your heels. 

This exercise is one given by a leading ortho- 
pedic surgeon for straightening round shoulders. 
If faithfully practised every day, you will learn 
to stand erect without effort. 

This exercise is a particularly good one for 
the girl who spends a great deal of time at her 
study table or over a desk in a business office. 
You should take as much care to sit properly as 
to stand correctly, and your back will not tire so 
quickly if you sit well back on your chair and keep 



PHYSICAL CULTURE 265 

your shoulders erect. This also permits deep 
breathing, which works out good results in the 
body in general. 

Filling in Neck Hollows 

The head movement is to be taken slowly and 
rhythmically. Sit in an erect but easy position, 
with neck pressed against the back of the collar. 
Now move the head in a rotary motion, carrying it 
as far as possible to the sides and back, in order 
to stretch the neck well. Hold this position for 
a second. Move first to the left, and then reverse 
the movement until the exercise has been re- 
peated twelve times. 

This exercise will fill in the hollows above the 
collar-bone and soften the outlines of the neck, 
as well as decrease the superfluous fat in those 
inclined to layers of double chin. 

Walking Will Expand the Chest 

As you are lately home from your vacation, 
your resolution to keep up the vigor that you 
have gained on your trip is still in its prime. 
This is a praiseworthy state. Do not let it grow 
old too soon. 

Begin by taking a walk every day, no matter 
what the weather. If you are carefully protected 



266 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

as to clothing and use good judgment, this will 
be of great benefit. As the cooler days come, 
light woolen clothing will keep you warm on 
your long walks. You will need, too, heavy but 
comfortable walking boots and heavy cotton 
stockings. As you walk, do so in a way that will 
keep the chest expansion you have gained. Take 
long, deep breaths as you step, expanding every 
part of the lungs. Slowly exhale. Repeat in 
rhythm. 

Just to Make You Sleepy 

If on going to bed you find yourself so over- 
fatigued that sleep does not easily come, try a 
set of breathing exercises. 

Lie flat on the back without a pillow, feet un- 
crossed and arms relaxed. Breathe in while you 
count six; breathe out, counting the same number, 
and then rest, breathing naturally for the same 
length of time. Repeat this exercise six times. 
Be exact about the number of times. This may 
be repeated at intervals. 

The room should be thoroughly ventilated. 
The rhythmic, steady inhalation and exhalation 
are bound to have a quieting effect upon your 
nerves, if you persist in this little practice. 



PHYSICAL CULTURE 267 

To Improve the Bust 

Here is a simple but effective exercise for 
rounding the chest and improving the appearance 
of the bust. Standing erect with hands on the 
chest, slowly stretch the arms back as far as pos- 
sible, keeping them on a level with the shoulders, 
inhaling deeply. Slowly bring the hands back 
to the first position, exhaling the breath mean- 
while. During this exercise keep the back of the 
neck pressed against the collar, and you will find 
that you are standing well, with very little effort. 
By practising this exercise the short girl will find 
that she appears taller, while the tall girl, in- 
stead of looking lanky, will be called stately. 
A girl's appearance does not depend upon her 
height nearly so much as it does upon the way 
in which she carries herself. 

Form the habit of deep breathing. This is a 
most excellent way of stirring up a sluggish liver, 
for, with every downward movement of the dia- 
phragm, the liver is pressed and incited to action. 

Exercise for Strengthening the Hand 

A good exercise for strengthening the hand is 
to squeeze repeatedly a rubber ball. You may 
even make the ball of paper and squeeze that. 
Or you need not even use the paper ball, but 



268 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

simply open and shut your hand over and over 
again. This will strengthen the muscles and give 
you a firm grip. To strengthen any one finger, 
carry a weight attached to the finger by a strap, 
meanwhile holding the arm extended. Over- 
development in any one direction will destroy 
the symmetry of the hand. 

To Strengthen the Wrist and Develop 
the Muscles of the Arm 

Take the erect standing position and inhale 
deeply. Extend the right arm, bend at the elbow, 
hand up. Forcibly clench the fist, turning it 
first to the right and then to the left from the 
elbow only, keeping the muscles of the forearm 
tense. 

Repeat this exercise fifteen times, inhaling 
deeply through the nose and exhaling through 
the mouth during the practice. 

This exercise will strengthen the wrist and de- 
velop the muscles of the arm. 

To Straighten the Shoulders 

Stand sideways near the wall at such a distance 
that the tips of your fingers will touch the surface 
when the arm is extended. Move an inch awa)' 
from the wall and again touch the wall with the 



PHYSICAL CULTURE 269 

fingers, being careful not to change the position 
of the pelvis, legs, or feet. Again, move away 
another inch and repeat the exercise. Keep this 
up until it is impossible to touch the wall with 
your fingers. Begin over again with the other 
arm. 
This is a fine exercise to straighten the shoulders. 

Skipping Exercise 

Every girl knows how to skip. If you haven't 
done it for some time, just get up and try spring- 
ing lightly, first on one foot and then on the other, 
moving forward all the time. You can " skip " 
in your room, or if you are in the country or in a 
quiet spot practise it in the fresh air. 

This exercise is excellent for general circula- 
tion and for stirring up a sluggish body. If your 
occupation is sedentary, it is of the greatest 
value. 

This has recently become quite a fad in England. 

To Make the Body Flexible and Graceful 

In the spring duties are apt to press so heavily 
upon the not over-strong girl that she must take 
special pains to keep her sense of poise and correct 
position. 

The East Indians teach a series of movements 



270 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

that take into consideration these conditions: 
Standing erect with hands on hips, take a deep 
breath, then rise on the toes; from this position, 
lower the body slowly to the floor by bending 
first knees, then hips, keeping the back, neck, 
and head erect. When as near the floor as pos- 
sible in this position, and still holding the breath, 
raise the body slowly to erect position on the toes 
without stooping forward. Lower the heels to 
the floor and slowly exhale the breath. This 
exercise brings a heavy strain on the muscles; 
the more slowly it is taken the greater is the 
strain. 

For Cold Mornings 

Many girls who sit over their work complain 
of being chilly on winter mornings. A little 
vigorous exercise will send your blood dancing 
through your veins, and will dissipate the feeling 
of " not being quite warm enough." You will 
avoid many a cold if you look after your circu- 
lation at once. 

Take this exercise of arm swinging. Stand 
erect, arms at side: carry the right arm forward 
and up with the wrist relaxed and swing it back- 
ward in a circle, keeping the palm up as the arm 
goes back, and the chest firm and to the front. 



PHYSICAL CULTURE 271 

Make the circle slowly for four revolutions, and 
repeat with the left arm and then with both. 
The second part is to repeat the circular move- 
ment in the same order but with great rapidity, 
until the body is in a glow. 

This exercise is also very good for developing 
the muscles of the neck, chest, and shoulder, and 
fills out the hollows below the collar-bone. 

Graceful Carriage 

Have you ever watched the graceful walk of 
girls in other lands as they carry some tall, light 
object on the head? Now and again an arm is 
raised that the finger-tip may be assured of the 
perfect poise of the burden. The different parts 
of the body, from the crown of the head to the 
sole of the foot, work together, maintaining 
perfect equilibrium. Our own girls will find such 
exercise very conducive to good carriage. If 
your head has a habit of protruding, if your shoul- 
ders stoop, try this method to improve the 
awkwardness. 



XXXIV 
LITTLE WAYS TO "PRETTY UP" 

What girl among you does not dote on " stir- 
ring up " things with a spoon? Counting on this 
inherent feminine trait, I am giving you a goodly 
variety of toilet recipes, gathered from various 
sources, from which to choose. 

Some of the ingredients you will find all ready 
for you in the kitchen, while others are very easy 
to obtain from the druggist. There is a great 
fascination in being able to make your own 
" cold cream," for then you can be certain that 
you have an absolutely pure article! 

Care of the Hands 

Nail Paste 

Powdered carmine (fine) . 1 drachm 

Fresh lard 2 ounces 

Oil of bergamot .... 24 drops 
Essence of cyprus .... 12 drops 

These ingredients should be well beaten together 
and heated in a double boiler. Stir them to a 
smooth paste. In order to avoid staining your 



WAYS TO "PRETTY UP" 273 

fingers, apply the paste to the nails with a bit 
of old linen. Let it remain for a few minutes 
and then wipe off. 

The following is a French formula for nail 
powder : 

Violet talcum powder . . 1-2 ounce 

Boric acid (pulverized) . 1-2 ounce 

Powdered starch .... 1-2 ounce 

Tincture of carmine ... 15 drops 

A simple powder for polishing the nails is 
composed of: 

200 parts, zinc oxide 
2 parts, carmine 
Perfume with a few drops of oil of violets. 

To remove stains from the nails while mani- 
curing them, dip a cotton-tipped toothpick into 
peroxide of hydrogen to which a few drops of 
ammonia have been added. This is excellent 
for removing all discolorations. 

A still simpler method of removing stains is 
the use of lemon juice. 

Rub the following on the hands after bathing 
them : — 

Glycerine and spirit of camphor, equal parts. 
Mix well. 



274 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

For freckles on the hands, use: 

Violet water 1 ounce 

Glycerine 1 drachm 

Tincture of benzoin . . . 1-2 drachm 
Powdered borax . . . .1-4 drachm 

The borax and glycerine should be rubbed to- 
gether, and the violet water added very slowly. 
The tincture of benzoin is added last. 

For red hands, the following is an excellent 
formula: 

Honey 1 ounce 

Almond oil 1 ounce 

Juice of one lemon 

Yolk of one egg 
These ingredients should be well mixed. 

Good Mouth Washes 
The following formula is for a liquid mouth 
wash that may be used in the morning to cleanse 
and sweeten the mouth before breakfast: 

Thymol 7 1-2 grains 

Alcohol 2 ounces 

Borax 15 grains 

Distilled water, to make 1 pint 

Another is: 

Tincture of myrrh . . . 1-2 drachm 

Sodium bicarbonate . . 1-2 drachm 

Chlorate of potassium . . a pinch 

Distilled water 6 ounces 



WAYS TO "PRETTY UP" 275 

Still another is: 

Peppermint 15 drops 

Alcohol 1-2 ounce 

Rose water 1 ounce 

Tincture of orris .... 1-2 ounce 

Tooth Powders 

Powdered chalk .... 1 ounce 
Oil of peppermint .... 1 drop 

Apply the powder thoroughly to the teeth, 
both to the inside and outside surfaces, using a 
soft brush. 

Tooth Paste 

Powdered white castile 
soap ... 2 1-8 ounces avoirdupois 

Precipitated 

chalk ... 2 1-8 ounces avoirdupois 

Powdered orris 

root . . . 3-4 ounce avoirdupois 

Oil of pepper- 
mint . . . 1-8 fluid drachm 

Add glycerine enough to make a paste. 

For the Complexion 

To whiten the complexion, mix a handful of 
well sifted wheat bran with a pint of white vinegar. 



276 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

Let it stand for four hours. Add five egg yolks. 
Put into a bottle and keep corked for fifteen days. 
This lotion may be applied to the face at night. 

Cream for Sunburn 

White wax 1-2 ounce 

Spermaceti 1-2 ounce 

Sweet almond oil ... . 2 ounces 

These ingredients are to be melted and well mixed 
together in a double boiler. Pour into a heated 
bowl and add slowly 1 1-2 ounces of rose water, 
and 1-2 ounce of witch hazel. Beat until creamy, 
and put into a small jar. 

French Balsam, for rough and cracked skin, 
consists of equal parts of glycerine and egg 
albumen. Perfume this cream as you wish. 
You may use a few drops of any favorite essence 
on your toilet table. 

An excellent cucumber cream is made as follows: 
Cucumber juice .... 2 ounces 

White wax 1 ounce 

Spermaceti 1 ounce 

Almond oil 4 ounces 

Orange flower water ... 1 ounce 

Put the oil into a double boiler, and when it is 
warm add the cucumbers after washing and chop- 
ping them fine. Take large ripe ones and do not 



WAYS TO "PRETTY UP" 277 

peel them. Allow the oil and cucumbers to 
simmer for two hours, and then strain. Add the 
wax, spermaceti, and the orange flower water, 
and beat until it is creamy. Keep in a tight box. 

A good lotion for sunburn is: 

Glycerine 1 ounce 

Spirit of camphor .... 1-4 ounce 

Boiled or distilled water . 4 ounces 

You may put any scent in this that you desire. 

A few drops of rose water impart a delicate 

perfume. 

Blackheads 

Resorcin 60 grains 

Zinc oxide 120 grains 

Starch 120 grains 

Petroleum 240 grains 

Pimples 

Ichthyol 90 grains 

Ether 2 1-2 fluid drachms 

Alcohol 4 fluid drachms 

Dab on spots several times a day. 



Absorbent Cotton to Replace the 
Washcloth 

A handful of absorbent cotton may be used 
for cleansing face and neck. A fresh wad is used 



278 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

daity, being delightfully soft and acceptable to 
delicate skins. It is said that the Queen of 
Greece, a very beautiful woman with a wonder- 
ful complexion, uses the absorbent cotton 
washcloth. 

Cold-Sore 

After being mopped with a bit of cotton mois- 
tened in sweet spirit of nitre, a cold-sore, other- 
wise called fever blister, will often disappear 
like magic. 

Moth Patches or Liver Spots 

Moth patches or liver spots are not infrequently 
caused by some internal derangement, and will 
not disappear until this is removed. Some 
authorities believe that the plentiful drinking of 
water for a time will help to remove these blem- 
ishes. This may have to be kept up for a year 
before the desired effect is noticed. 

For Excessive Perspiration 

A good dusting powder consists of: 

Powdered calamine 2 drachms 

Powdered Florentine orris root 1 ounce 
Powdered starch 3 ounces 

Wiping off the parts with alcohol or bay rum 
is often helpful. 



WAYS TO "PRETTY UP" 279 

For sweating of hands and axillae, a lotion 
consisting of 5 ounces of bay rum, to which 9 
grains of tannic acid are added is sometimes used. 

Recipe for Bath Bags 

The use of bran or corn-meal bags in the bath 
is excellent for the skin. Thin cloth is used for 
the bags, which may be made of any size that 
you prefer. They are filled two-thirds with bran, 
corn-meal, or oatmeal, bits of toilet soap, and a 
little powdered orris root. The bag should 
never be used more than twice, for it soon sours. 

Toilet Water 

Alcohol 1 pint 

Orange flower water . . 1 ounce 
Essence of bergamot . . 2 drachms 
Essence of lemon .... 1 drachm 

Oil of neroli 20 drops 

Oil of rosemary 6 drops 

These ingredients, after being thoroughly mixed, 
are put into a bottle then tightly corked. 

Carnation toilet water may be made of the 
following: 

Oil of pink 1 ounce 

Rectified spirit 1 pint 



280 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

Florida Water 

Oil of lavender 2 drachms 

Oil of lemon 1 drachm 

Oil of orange peel ... 1 drachm 

Oil of cloves 5-8 drachm 

Deodorized alcohol ... 1 pint 



Recipe for Vinaigrette 

Oil of lavender 1-4 fluid ounce 

Caustic spirit of ammonia 3-8 pint 

Saturate with this preparation a bit of sponge, 
and place it in the vinaigrette; or pour it on to 
crystals of potassium sulphate with which you 
have first filled the vinaigrette. This is a French 
preparation, and is excellent in cases of faintness 
or headache. 

Sachets 

A very delicate sachet is easily made by filling 
a lawn bag with sprigs of lemon verbena. Tiny 
little bags of the same material may be filled with 
rose leaves. They will keep their perfume for 
a time but after awhile they become stale. 

A delicious sachet powder results from the com- 
bination of equal parts of the best violet sachet 
and ground orris root. 



WAYS TO "PRETTY UP" 281 

Frangipani Sachet Powder 

Violet orris root powder 300 parts 
Patchouli leaves .... 24 parts 

Sandal wood 24 parts 

Neroli oil 2-5 part 

Rose oil 2-5 part 

Sandal wood oil .... 2-5 part 

This formula may seem rather complicated to 
you, but if you will ask the druggist to put all 
the oils into one bottle you will find it very 
much simplified. 

Toilet Vinegar 
Menthol vinegar makes an excellent headache 
cologne. Use the following ingredients: 
3 parts menthol 
97 parts white vinegar 

An aromatic vinegar that is also excellent for 

this purpose is: 

Alcohol 3 ounces 

Acetic acid 1-2 ounce 

Crushed camphor gum . . 1 drachm 

Oil of rosemary -2 drachm 

Oil of bergamot 1-4 drachm 

Oil of cinnamon .... 1-4 drachm 

Oil of lavender 1-4 drachm 

Oil of neroli 1-4 drachm 

These ingredients should be mixed and shaken 

until the camphor is dissolved. 



282 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

Headache Ointment 

An ointment that is also good both for head- 
ache and sore muscles is the following: 

20 parts of white vaseline and 
70 parts of lanolin. 

These are put into an earthen vessel, which 
is set into a saucepan of boiling water. To the 
mixture 10 parts of menthol are slowly stirred 
in. The liquor is poured off as soon as it begins 
to thicken. 

Healing Lotion for Scratches or Little 
Cuts 

Spirit of camphor .... 1 ounce 

Glycerine 1-4 drachm 

Borax 1-8 drachm 

Carbolic acid 5 grains 

This may be applied twice a day. 

Another good one is: 

Suet or lanolin 1 ounce 

Camphor 20 grains 

Glycerine 1-2 ounce 

These ingredients should be melted together. 
They are then poured into a vessel and allowed 
to cool. 



WAYS TO "PRETTY UP" 283 

The following preparation is an excellent one 
with which to bathe the muscles when they have 
been overtaxed : 

Spirit of ammonia .... 2 ounces 
Spirit of camphor .... 2 ounces 

Sea-salt 1 1-2 cups 

Alcohol 2 cups 

Put all the ingredients together in a quart bottle, 
and fill it with hot water. This should always be 
shaken before using. 

A French formula which is used for the same 
purpose is: 

Alcohol 1-2 pint 

Spirit of camphor .... 2 ounces 
Spirit of ammonia ... 2 ounces 
Sea-salt 5 ounces 

Boiling water, enough with the other ingredi- 
ents to fill a quart bottle. 



Care of the Feet 

It is a dainty habit to keep the nails of the feet 
in as good condition as those of the hands. The 
same preparations are suitable for both purposes. 

Hot sea-salt baths are good for feet that are 
inclined to swell. 



284 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

Alcohol baths are beneficial in cases of tender 
feet,, or those that tire easily. Soaping the 
stockings and boots sometimes affords relief. 

When one suffers from cold feet, fresh stockings 
daily often prevent clamminess. 

The daily hot foot-bath often relieves the pain 
from corns and bunions. The hot bath is very 
restful for tired feet. 

In caring for the feet, if you are unfortunate 
enough to cut them too deeply, the wound should 
be bathed at once with some antiseptic lotion. 
You may use 40 parts of glycerine to 1 part of 
carbolic acid for this purpose. 

A good powder for the feet is this : 

Tannin 30 drachms 

Lycopodium 3 drachms 

Alum 1 drachm 

For Perspiration and Fetor of the Feet. 
Orris powder . . 1 ounce avoirdupois 
Zinc oxide ... 1 ounce avoirdupois 
Talcum powder . 6 ounces avoirdupois 

Excessive Perspiration of the Feet. 

An excellent method of dealing with this 
trouble : with a pen- filler let fall six drops of un- 
diluted 40% formalin well up into the toes of 
the shoes. Here it evaporates and subjects the 



WAYS TO "PRETTY UP" 285 

foot to the action of very weak formalin gas for 
several days, the effects of which last a fortnight. 
More or less of the solution may be used later, as 
conditions indicate. Bathing the feet with for- 
malin, even when strongly diluted, is not always 



Points about the Hair 

As cleanliness more than any other factor is 
necessary to preserve beautiful hair, care of 
brush, comb and pins calls for " eternal vigilance." 

A single bristle brush can be kept cleaner than 
the ordinary brush made up of bunches of 
bristles. An excellent solution for sterilizing 
the hair brush is composed of four tablespoonfuls 
of formaldehyde (40 per cent) to a quart of clear 
water. 

The best comb is made with rounding edges, 
and blunt pointed teeth. Such a comb will not 
cut the hair. 

Celluloid hairpins or ornaments should never 
be worn, as they sometimes explode when brought 
near fire. 

In clipping uneven and split ends of hair, the 
most thorough method consists in taking a strand 
at a time, twisting it tightly and then, while 
holding it at its tip with one hand, rough it up by 



286 THE PRETTY GIRL PAPERS 

running the finger-tip and thumb quickly up 
toward the scalp. In this way nearly all of the 
hair ends will be made to stand up, and can then 
be clipped with the scissors. 

For Dandruff 

Resorcin 8 grains 

Castor oil 1 fluid ounce 

Alcohol 3 fluid ounces 

Peru balsam 5 grains 

Rub in the scalp daily for a time. 

A pomade for dandruff consists of a drachm 
of precipitated sulphur to one ounce of vaseline. 
Instead of the plain vaseline a combination of 
lanolin and vaseline may be used, with the ad- 
dition of the sulphur. 

A certain girl cured this trouble by using a 
fresh comb and hairpins daily. To do this con- 
veniently, she bought half a dozen combs, wash- 
ing them all on a certain day of the week. Since 
it is believed that one may be infected with 
dandruff by using soiled brushes and combs, or 
even by contact with a hat or other objects 
belonging to a person suffering from dandruff, it 
is not hard to realize the value of cleanliness in 
this affection. 



WAYS TO "PRETTY UP" 287 

Curling Lotion 

Gum arabic 1 drachm 

Sugar 1 drachm 

Rose water 2 ounces 

Mix and dissolve the solids in the rose water. 
Moisten and roll the hair. 

Hair Tonic 

Salicylic acid 1 drachm 

Spirit of ether 4 drachms 

Glycerine 1 drachm 

Alcohol 3 ounces 

Bay rum, to make ... 8 ounces 

Two Good Dry Shampoos 
For a dry shampoo, take the finest ground, 
white corn-meal, add a little powdered orris root, 
and sprinkle the powder through the hair. Mas- 
sage the scalp, being sure at the same time to 
rub the powder over it. Shake the powder 
through the long hair, letting it stand for half 
an hour. Remove all of the meal from the hair, 
by means of a long fibered brush. 

Another mixture for a dry shampoo is com- 
posed of 250 grammes of wheat flour, and 30 
grammes of powdered orris root, or lycopodium 
powder, mixed with starch in equal parts. The 
use of starch for this purpose is very satisfactory 
in the case of white hair. 



INDEX 



Abdomen, reduction exer- 
cise for, 262, 263 
Acids, effect on teeth of, 

111 
Adulteration of candy, 134- 

136 
Age suitable for marriage, 

235 
Agnails, 89, 90 
Air, amount for breathing, 
2 
night, effect on voice, 120, 

121 
fresh, in the bedroom, 1-4 
Airing the bedding, 7 

bedroom, 3, 4, 9 
Alcohol in candy, 138 
lamp, 20 

use of, on scalp, 57 
Americanitis, 160, 178 
Amiability, effect on irri- 
tability of, 258, 259 
Ammonia for stings, 185, 

186 
Amusement complement of 

occupation, 208 
Animals, hair of, 63 



Anti-fat remedies, avoid- 
ance of, 130 
Arm, exercise for, 268 
Aromatic vinegar, 281 
" Art Studies" for the sick, 

231 
Asthmatic attacks due to 

dust, 150 
Asylums for insane, free 

from colds, 149 
Athletic club, secret, 249, 

250 
Athletics in summer, 174- 

180 
Attractiveness a factor of 

happiness, 233, 234 
Axillae, care of, 14 

lotion for sweating of, 279 

Baking-soda, effect of, on 
nails, 51 
for burns, 92, 182 
corns, 51 

ivy-poisoning, 187 
Ball-playing for nervous- 
ness, 250, 251 
Balls for the sick, 230, 231 



290 



INDEX 



" Banting," 130 
Bath, adaptation of, to 
individuals, 249 

hot, in nervousness, 248 

need of daily, 14 

portable, 21 

shower, 23-29 

"slush," 247 

sponge, 21 

tray, 21 

bags, recipe for, 279 
Bathing, a habit, 17 
Bathing in Cuba, 27 

in the Philippines, 26, 27 

without a bath-room, 17- 
29 

with two basins, 18 
Bath-tub, folding, 19, 22 

papier-mache, 19 
Baths for feet, 283, 284 
Beads for the sick, 229 
" Beautifiers," advertised, 

72-82 
Beauty, exercise means to, 
242 

"parlors," 76-80 

relation of sympathy to, 
222 

unselfishness to, 231 

work to, 221 

rest a means to, 240-242 

"sleep," 124, 215 
Bedclothes, danger in 

damp, 6, 7 
Bedroom, airing of, 3, 4, 7, 9 



Bedroom, cleaning of, 7, 8 
floor of, 7 
flowers in, 5 
order in, 5 
photographs in, 9 
plants in, 5 
plumbing in, 9 
rugs in, 7 
shades in, 9, 93 
the ideal, 1-9 
ventilation of, 3, 4, 9 
view from window of, 4, 5 
walls of, 7 
Beds, separate, 6, 212, 213 
Bee sting, treatment of, 184, 

185 
Bees, changes in ex- 
hausted nerve cells of, 
162 
facts about, 184, 185 
Benzoin, use of, 86 
Blackheads, formula for, 

277 
" Blue Monday " due to 
nervous exhaustion, 
206, 207 
Bluing for white hair, 59 
Body, odors of, 13-16 
Boils, cause of, 155, 156 
Bones of foot, 45 
Books for brides, 243, 244 
Brain, sleep necessary for, 

208 
Bread-poultice for corns, 
51 



INDEX 



291 



Breakfast, hour for Eng- 
lish, 195 
Breath, candy-eating cause 
of unpleasant, 133, 134, 
205 
causes of disagreeable, 

11-13, 133, 134, 205 
the, 10-13 
Breathing, 142, 144-147 
during sleep, 213, 214 
effect of, on eyes, 101 
of deep, on hair, 62 
Breathing exercises, effects 
of, 145 
for insomnia, 266 
methods of, 116, 117 
Brides, books for, 243, 
244 
cooking necessary ac- 
complishment of, 243 
hints to prospective, 232- 

245 
rest for prospective, 244 
Brows, see Eyebrows 
Brush, hot water, 58 
lotion for cleansing hair, 

285 
single bristle, 285 
Bunions, 50, 51 

hot bath for, 284 
Burns, treatment of, 181- 

183 
Business, advantages of em- 
ploying women in, 201- 
203 



disadvantages of employ- 
ing women in, 204-208 
excuses in, 199,200 
girl, " nerves " in, 163 
sleep for, 208 
the, 197-208 
initiative in, 202 
intuition in, 201-203 
social amenities inappro- 
priate in, 201 
untidiness in, 205 
Bust, exercise for improv- 
ing, 267 

Candy, adulteration of, 
134-136 
paraffin in, 136 
Candy-eating, cause of 
colds, 135 
dyspepsia, 136, 137 
pimples, 132, 133 
tonsillitis, 135, 136 
unpleasant breath, 133, 
134, 205 
effects of, 138 
for girls, 132-138 
in obesity, 131 
Carbolic acid solution for 
burns, 182 
treatment for skin, 80 
Cards for the sick, 225, 226 
Carelessness in business, 

198, 205, 206 
Carmine, effects of, on 
skin, 80 



292 



INDEX 



Carpet-sweeper in bed- 
room, 7, 8 

Carriage, exercise for grace- 
ful, 271 

Carron oil for burns, 182, 
183 

Celluloid hairpins danger- 
ous, 285 

Circulation, in relation to 
eyes, 101 

Chamois gloves, use of, 87 

Character, in eyes, 99, 100 
voice, 117, 118 
reflected by habitation, 5 

Charcoal in water tub, 23 

Cheerfulness a beautifier, 
123 

Chest expansion, walking 
for, 265, 266 

Chilliness, exercise for, 270, 
271 

Chloroform for bee sting, 
185 

Chocolate in candy, 134, 
135 

Christmas in hospitals, 223- 
231 

Cleanliness, influence of, 15 

" Clergyman's sore throat," 
119, 120 

Climate, relation of, to 
voice, 115 

Clothing, adaptation of, to 
climate, 33 
becoming, 33, 34 



Clothing, color of, 33 
effects of tight, 34, 35 
materials for, 33 
temperature best guide 
for, 152 
Club, secret athletic, 249, 

250 
Coins for the sick, 229, 230 
Cold cream, use of, on 

hands, 92 
Cold, St. Kilda, 151, 152 
Cold-sore, preventive of, 

278 
Colds, 135, 150-154 

causes of, 135, 150-152 
due to candy-eating, 135 
infectious, 151 
prevention of, 152, 153 
symptoms of, 151, 153 
to abort, 153, 154 
Collars, tight, 35 
Color of clothing, 33 
eyes, 106 

hair, significance of, 53, 54 
Comb, hygienic, 285 
Companions, suitable trav- 
eling, 193-196 
Complexion, effects of diet 
on, 217-219 
exercise on, 219, 220, 

251 
ventilation on, 219, 251 
water-drinking on, 
219, 220 
formula for, 275, 276 



INDEX 



293 



Comradeship in marriage, 

238 
Consideration necessary in 

traveling, 193-196 
Consumption, prevention 

of, 257, 258 
Cooking, necessary accom- 
plishment of brides, 

243 
Cornmeal, substitute for 

soap, 87 
Corns, 50, 51 

hot bath for, 284 
Corsets, 35, 250 
Cosmetics and " beautifiers, ' ' 

advertised, 72-82 
injurious effects of tinted, 

80 
Cotton for clothing, 33 
washcloth replaced by 

absorbent, 277, 278 
Courtship, nervous strain 

of, 241, 242 
Cream, cucumber, 276, 277 
for ivy-poisoning, 187 
toilet, 87 
Crushes among girls, 167- 

173 
Crying due to nervousness, 

172, 173 
Cuba, bathing in, 27 
Curling lotion, 287 
"Curve of health," 174 
Cuts, lotions for, 282, 284 
Czarina, restlessness of, 241 



Daintiness, 10-16 
Dandruff, cleanliness pre- 
ventive of, 286 
lotion for, 286 
pomade for, 286 
Depilatories, 64, 65, 70 
Diet, effect of, on breath, 12 
complexion, 217-219 
nervousness, 163 
for girl of underweight, 

124, 125 
girls, 218, 219 
plump girl, 130, 131 
Disease carried by flies, 
186 

mosquitos, 186 
due to kissing, 158 
indicated by eyes, 100 
Diseases, nervousness due 
to infectious, 160 
of eyes, contagious, 104 
Disinfection of mouth, 112, 

113, 274, 275 
Dolls for the sick, 228 
Dress, 30-35 

artificiality in, 36 
exaggeration in, 33 
neatness in, 31 
peculiarity in, 32 
unconventionality in, 

197, 198 
untidiness in, 36-42 
Dressings for burns, 182, 

183 
Drowsiness, cause of, 214 



294 



INDEX 



Dust disease, 148-150 

remedy for, 150 

symptoms of, 148 

microbes in, 8 

of streets, 8 
Dusting in the bedroom, 8 
Dyes, hair, 68-71 

injurious, 61 
Dyspepsia due to candy- 
eating, 136, 137 

Electrolysis, 65, 66 

treatment of eyebrows 

by, 101 
Emergencies, summer, 181- 

189 
Employment best tonic, 

256, 257 
Energy, over-expenditure 

of, 164-166 
Engagements, length of, 

237 
English girl, athletics of, 

177 
Enthusiasm, a beautifier, 

123, 124 
Eugenie, resting-hours of 

Empress, 240, 241 
Examination, yearly phys- 
ical, 250 
Excuses in business life, 

199, 200 
Exercise, a means to 

beauty, 242 
different effects of, 127 



effects of, on complexion, 

219, 220, 251 
for girl of underweight, 

125, 126 
plump girl, 127, 128, 130 
necessary for health, 170 
skipping, 269 
tip-toe, 49 
Exercises, 262-271 

abdominal reduction, 262, 

263 
for chest expansion, 265, 

266 

chilliness, 270, 271 

grace, 269, 270 

graceful carriage, 271 

hollow neck, 265 

insomnia, 266 

physical defects, 249, 
250 

round shoulders, 264, 
265 

the arm, 268 

bust, 267 

hand, 267, 268 

shoulders, 268, 269 

waist, 263, 264 

wrist, 268 
relaxation, 262 
Expectoration, ill effects 

of, 148, 149 
Expression of eyes, 99-101, 

106 
eyebrows, 101, 105, 106 
hands, 84, 85 



INDEX 



295 



Expression of the mouth, 
107-110, 143 

Eyeballs during sleep, 214 

Eyebrows, care of, 101, 102 
expression of , 101, 105, 106 

Eye-glasses, 96, 97, 105 

Eyelids, massage for, 103 
significance of puffy, 102 

Eye, pink- 104 

Eyes, the, 93-106 
beauty of, 99 
black specks before, 104 
character expressed by, 

99, 100 
color of, 106 
contagious diseases of, 

104 
dark rings under, 102, 103 
disease indicated by, 100 
effect of deep breathing 

on, 101 
examination of, 96-98 
expression of, 99-101, 106 
extraction of foreign body 

from, 104 
fatigue indicated by, 100 
glasses for, 97, 105 
light in relation to, 93-95 
lustre of, 100 
magnetism of, 100 
mannerisms of, 105, 106 
near-sighted, 96 
resting the, 94 
strained, treatment of, 
95, 96 



watery, 103 

" wild hairs " in, 103 

Face, peeling of, 80 

the " second," 83-92 
Fat girl, see Girl, the plump 
Fatigue, cause of, 178 

for insomnia, 211 

indicated by eyes, 100 
Fat, normal proportions of, 

129 
Feet, a baby's, 44, 45 

and shoes, 43-51 

arches of, 46 

bones of, 45 

care of, 283-285 

muscles of, 45, 46 

perfect, 43-46 

substitute for hands, 45 
Fever blister, preventive of, 

278 
Flat-foot, 46, 48, 49 
Flatulence due to candy- 
eating, 136 
Flies, carriers of disease, 

186 
" Flitting flies," 104 
Floor of the bedroom, 7 
Florida water, 280 
Flowers in bedroom, 5 
Food for insomnia, 211 
Foods, precautions concern- 
ing summer, 188, 189 
Foot, flat- see Flat-foot 
Footsteps, tracings of, 49 



296 



INDEX 



Foreign body, extraction 

from eye of, 104 
Formulas, antiseptic lotion 

for feet, 284 
aromatic vinegar, 281 
curling lotion, 287 
cucumber cream, 276 
dry shampoos, 287 
for blackheads, 277 

complexion, 275, 276 

cuts, 282, 284 

dandruff, 286 

excessive perspiration, 
278, 279, 284 

freckles, 274 

pimples, 277 

red hands, 274 
foot powder, 284 
Frangipani sachet pow- 
der, 281 
French Balsam, 276 
hair tonic, 287 
headache ointment, 

282 
lotions for cuts, 282 
lotion for hands, 273 
lotions for tired muscles, 

283 
mouth washes, 274, 275 
nail paste, 272 
nail powder, 273 
sunburn cream, 276 

lotion, 277 
toilet vinegar, 281 

waters, 279, 280 



tooth paste, 275 
powder, 275 

vinaigrette, 280 
Four square position of 

feet, 49, 50 
Friendships, foolish, 167- 

173 
Fruit luncheons, 253 

microbes on, 157, 158 
Fungi, poisonous, 188 

Gargle "or " raw throat," 

153 
Garters, tight, 35 
Gifts, suitable hospital, 

224-231 
Giggling an inane habit, 

110 
Girl of underweight, 122-126 
diet for, 124, 125 
exercise for, 125, 126 
massage for, 126 
relaxation for, 124 
sleep for, 124, 126 
plump, 127-131 
diet for, 130, 131 
exercise for, 127, 128, 

130 
lungs of, 127 
massage for, 126, 128 
sleep for, 130 
the business, 197-208 
Glasses, eye- 96, 97, 105 
Gloves, microbes on, 156 
tight, 35 



INDEX 



297 



Gnats, ammonia for stings 

of, 186 
Grace, exercise to cultivate, 

269, 270 

Hair, American, 52 

clipping the, 285 

curling lotion for, 287 

daily loss of, 53 

drying of, 57, 58 

dyes for, 68-71 
injurious, 61 

effect of deep breathing 
on 62 
health on, 63, 71 
mountain climbing on, 

62 
sun on, 63 

European, imported, 52 

falling, 71 

of animals, effect of ill 
health on, 63 

points about, 285 

removers, see Depilato- 
ries 

restorers, dangers of, 68- 
71 

rinsing of, 57 

shaving superfluous, 66 

significance of color of, 
53, 54 

tonic, 287 

tonics, popular prices of, 67 

turning, 71 

white, 59 



Hands, care of, 85-92 
cold, 35 
excessive sweating of, 

84 
exercise for strengthen- 
ing, 267, 268 
expression of, 84, 85 
knowledge gained from, 

83-85 
lotion for, 273 
freckles on, 274 
red, 274 
sweating, 279 
microbes on, 156, 157 
odors removed from, 87 
red, 35 
stains removed from, 86, 

87, 91, 92 
the, 83-92 

perfect, 85 
treatment of burned, 92 
Hangnails, 89, 90 
Happiness in marriage, 232, 

235, 245 
Headache due to nervous 
exhaustion, 207 
ointment, 282 
Health, assurance of, be- 
fore marriage, 236 
curve of, 174 
due to sleep, 260, 261 
effect of, on hair, 63, 71 
Heartburn due to candy- 
eating, 136 
Heels, high, 43, 47, 48 



298 



INDEX 



Heredity, cause of nervous- 
ness, 160 

Hips, ugly, 35 

Hoarseness, 119, 120 
treatment of, 154 

Hospitals, Christmas in, 
223-231 

Housekeeper, regime for 
young, 255 

Housekeeping for brides, 
238 

Hurry, a cause of nervous- 
ness, 192, 193 

Ideals in married life, 245 
Idiosyncrasies in traveling, 

190-196 
Ill-health, effects of, on 

skin, 81, 82 
Illness, effects of, on nails, 

88 
Indian meal for shampoo, 

59 
papoose, breathing of, 

140 
Indigestion, ball-playing for, 

250, 251 
due to noise, 252 
Individuality, importance of 

keeping, 234 
Influenza, nervousness due 

to, 160 
Initiative in business, 202 
Insane asylums free from 

colds, 149 



Insomnia, exercise for, 266 

remedy for, 211 
Intuition, importance of, 

234 
in business women, 201- 

203 
Iodine treatment for skin, 

79 
Irritability due to nervous 

exhaustion, 206 
Italian girls, complexion of, 

2, 3 
Ivy, poison, 186-188 

poisoning, treatment of, 

187 

Jack-stones for the sick, 230 
Japanese free from colds, 
150 
girl, model of strength, 
175, 176 
Journey, length of bridal, 
238 
preparations for, 190-196 

Kindergarten boxes for the 

sick, 230, 231 
Kissing, cause of disease, 

158 

La grippe, nervousness due 

to, 160 
Lamp, alcohol, 20 

kerosene, 95 
Lard, use of, 86 



INDEX 



299 



Larynx, action of, 118, 119 

Lead, constituent of many 
powders, 73-75 
poisoning, 74, 75 

Lemon juice, stains re- 
moved by, 86 

Light, artificial, 95 

in relation to eyes, 93-95 

Linen for clothing, 33 

Liver spots, remedy for, 
278 

Lockjaw microbe, 158, 181, 
182 

Lotions, see Formulas 

Loyalty in marriage, 237 

Luncheon, ideal, 253 

Lungs, area of, 145 

of fat girl, small capac- 
ity of, 127 

Lustre of eye, 100 

Magnetism of eyes, 100 

Malaria carried by mos- 
quitos, 186 

Malignant growths from 
moles and warts, 76 

Manicure implements, 88 

Manicuring, 88-92 

Mannerisms, 38, 40, 41 
in moving the eyes, 105, 
106 

Mannishness to be depre- 
cated, 32 

Marriage, age for suit- 
able, 235 



assurance of health for, 

236 
concerning, 232-245 
comradeship in, 238 
happinessin, 232-235, 245 
ideals in, 245 
loyalty in, 237 
suitable seasons for, 237 
sympathy in, 245 
tact in, 232, 233, 245 
Massage for eyelids, 103 
plump girl, 126, 128 
thin girl, 126 
of scalp, 56, 60, 61 
Mastication, proper, 12 
Match, stains removed by, 

86 
Mattress, thickness of, 6 
Meal-time, quiet at, 252, 

253 
Men, dependence on wives 

of, 233 
Mental disturbance, in re- 
lation to breath, 13 
Microbes, avoidance of, 155- 
159 
carried by insects, 186 
cause of boils, 155, 156 
colds due to, 151, 152 
in dust, 8 

telephone transmitter, 
157 
invasion of, prevented 

by hygiene, 159 
lockjaw, 158, 181, 182 



300 



INDEX 



Microbes, nature of, 155 
on floor mats, 31, 32 
fruit, 157, 158 
gloves, 156 
hands, 156, 157 
money, 156, 157 
vegetables, 157, 158 
shape of, 156 
size of, 155 

Milk, drinking of, 124, 125 
in sleeping-room, care 
of, 158 

Misunderstanding, avoid- 
ance of first, 233 

Moderation for nervous- 
ness, 254, 260 

Moles, malignant growths 
from, 76 

Money, microbes on, 156, 
157 

Mosquitos, disease carried 
by, 186 

Mosso, experiments in sleep 
by, 211 

Moth patches, remedy for, 
278 

Mountain climbing, effect 
on hair, 62 

Mouth, disinfection of, 112, 
113, 274, 275 
expression of, 107-110, 

143 
the making of a beautiful, 

107-113 
washes, 274, 275 



Mouth-breathers, breath of, 

13 
Mouth-breathing, 139-147 
effects of, 141, 142, 144, 

145 
symptoms of, 139 
wrinkles due to, 142 
Mud for bee stings, 185 
Muscles, lotions for tired, 
283 
of feet, 45, 46 
"pleasant," 109 
Mushrooms, precautions for 
gathering, 188 

Nails, care of, 88-92 
in health, 88 
illness, 88 
paste for, 272 
powder for, 273 
removal of stains from, 

273 
treatment of bruised, 92 
white spots on, 90 
Neck, exercise for hollow, 
265 
scrawny, 35 
Nerve cells, changes in, 
in nervous exhaustion, 
162, 163 
" Nerves " in business girls, 

163 
Nerve structure, changes 
in, in nervous exhaus- 
tion, 161, 162 



INDEX 



301 



Nervous exhaustion, " blue 
Monday" due to, 206, 
207 
headache due to, 207 
irritability due to, 206 
Nervousness, ball-playing 
for, 250, 251 
causes of, 160-166 
due to hurry, 192, 193 
hot baths for, 248 
how to overcome, 160- 

166 
moderation for, 254, 

260 
relaxation for, 259, 260 
sea-salt rubs for, 248 
Nervous prostration, rest 
in, 247, 248 
"slush bath "in, 247 
Noise, dislike of, 118 
Nose, red, 35 

"talking through the," 
144 
North Pole explorers free 
from colds, 150 

Oatmeal, substitute for 

soap, 86 
Obesity, 129, 130 
candy-eating in, 131 
walking in, 130 
Occupation, effects of, on 

hands, 84 
Odor, characteristic of in- 
dividuals, 11 



Odors, body, 13-16 
feminine, 10-16 
on hands, removal of, 
87 
Olive oil, use of, on hands, 

92 
Order in bedroom, 5 
Oriental theory about sleep, 

210 
Orris root for shampoo, 59 
Outdoor life, a beautifier, 1 
preventive of consump- 
tion, 257, 258 
Overexertion, dangers of, 

174-180 
Overwork, meaning of, 163 
nervousness due to, 160- 
166 

Papier-mache bath-tub, 19 
Paraffin in candy, 136 
"Paraffin treatment," 77-79 
Paste, toilet, 87 
" Pedestal walk," 46 
Peeling, face- 80 
Perfumes, 15, 16 
Perspiration, formulas for 

excessive, 278, 284 
of feet, formulas for, 284, 

285 
Philanthropy, 224 
Philippines, 26, 27 
Photographs in " beauty 

parlors," 79 
the bedroom, 9 



302 



INDEX 



Physical culture, 262-271 
Pimples due to candy-eat- 
ing, 132, 133 

improper diet, 217-219 

microbes, 156 

formula for, 277 
Pink-eye, 104 
Plants in bedroom, 5 
" Pleasant muscles," the, 

109 
Plumbing in the bedroom, 9 
Plump girl, see Girl, plump 
Poisoning, lead, 74, 75 
Poison ivy, 186-188 
Powder for feet, 284 
Powders, lead in, 73-75 
Ptomaines in meats, 189 
Pumice-stone, stains re- 
moved by, 91, 92 
Purses for the sick, 229, 230 

Quilts for the sick, 227, 228 

Rackets for the sick, 230 
"Rejuvenating process" for 

skin, 79, 80 
Relaxation before sleep, 
210, 211 
exercises for, 165, 166 
for nervousness, 259, 260 
girl of underweight, 124 
methods of, 165, 166, 

208 
secret of, 262 
Respiration, 142, 144-147 



Rest a means to beauty 
240-242 
for prospective brides, 

244 
in nervous prostration, 
247, 248 
" Rheumatism " of the feet, 

48, 49 
Rings, eyes, with dark, 102, 

103 
Rouge, 36, 37 

silicious sponge substi- 
tute for, 81 
Rugs in the bedroom, 7 

Sachets, recipe for, 280, 281 
Sacques for the sick, 225 
St. Kilda cold, 151, 152 
Scalp, dry, 58, 59 

massage of, 56, 60, 61 

susceptible to sunburn, 
63 
Scrap books for the sick, 

226, 227 
Scratches, lotions for, 282 
Sea-bathing, precautions in 

regard to, 179, 180 
Sea-salt rubs, 248 
Shades in the bedroom, 9, 93 
Shampoo, frequency of, 54, 
55 

lotion, 59 

method of, 55-59 

the, 52-63 

the dry, 14, 59, 287 



INDEX 



303 



Shirt-waist, the, 30, 31 
Shoes and feet, 43-51 
French, 43, 46-48 
tight, 35 
Shoulders, exercises for, 264, 

265, 268, 269 
Shower bath, 23-29 
Silk for clothing, 33 
Sitz-bath, 22 

Skin, blood vessels of, 220 
carbolic acid treatment 

for, 80 
effects of carmine on, 80 
diet on, 217-219 
exercise on, 219, 220 
ill-health on, 81, 82 
sea-salt rubs on, 248 
ventilation on, 219 
water-drinking on, 219, 
220 
enemies and friends of, 

216-222 
French Balsam for rough, 

276 
index of health, 220 
iodine treatment for, 79 
" rejuvenation " of, 79, 80 
ventilation of, 34 
Skipping exercise, 269 
Skirt, short, 31, 32 
Sleep, 209-215 

a matter of habit, 209,210 

means to beauty, 215 
breathing during, 213, 
214 



effects on health of, 260, 
261 

exercise for inducing, 266 

eyeballs during, 214 

facts about, 211 

for business girls, 208 
plump girls, 130 
thin girls, 124, 126 

going to, 213 

for nervousness, 173 

how to go to, 166 
simulate, 214 

intensity of, 213 

necessary before a jour- 
ney, 193 

for the brain, 208 

Oriental theory about, 
210 

preparations for, 211, 212 

quality of, 210 

recuperative power of, 
162, 163 

tears diminished during, 
214 

varying with tempera- 
ment, 210 
Sleeping alone, 6, 212, 213 
Slippers for the sick, 224, 

225 
"Slush bath," 247 
Smiling, reflex effect of, 

108 
Snoring, remedy for, 146 
Soap ball, 91, 92 

in shampoo, 55, 56 



304 



INDEX 



Soap suds for ivy-poison- 
ing, 187 
under nails, use of, 87 
Sponge bath, 21 

silicious, substitute for 
rouge, 81 
Stains on hands, removal 

of, 86, 91, 92 
Starch for ivy-poisoning, 

187 
Stockings, fresh, preventive 
of cold feet, 50, 284 
ill-fitting, 50 
proper, 50 
Streets, dust of, 8 
Stye, treatment of, 105 
Sugar, a food, 137 

effects on teeth of, 137 
in normal diet, amount 
of, 132 
Sun, effects of, on hair, 63 
Sunburn, cream for, 276 
lotion for, 277 
of scalp, 63 
Sunlight, a disinfectant, 1 
Superfluous hair, 64-71 
"Surprise ball " for the sick, 

229 
Sweeping in the bedroom, 

7, 8 
Swimming, precautions in 

regard to, 179, 180 
Sympathy in marriage, 245 
Sympathy, relation to 
beauty of, 222 



Tact in business, 203, 204 
marriage, 232, 233, 245 
traveling, 193, 196 
"Talking through the nose," 

144 
Tears diminished during 

sleep, 214 
Teeth, care of, in relation 
to the breath, 12 
condition of, 110-113 
effect of, on general 

health, 112, 113 
effects of sugar on, 137 
of savages, condition of, 
141 
Telephone girl, tact neces- 
sary in, 200 
transmitter, microbes in, 
157 
Temperature best guide for 

clothing, 152 
Thin girl, see Girl of under- 
weight 
Throat, gargle for raw, 153 
Time, wise expenditure of, 

239, 240 
Tip-toe exercise, 49 
Toes, movements of, 44, 45 
Toilet vinegar, 281 
water, 279, 280 
Toilette, artificialities in, 
36, 37 
made in public, 37 
Tomatoes, stains removed 
by, 86 



INDEX 



305 



Tonic, employment the best, 
256, 257 

Tonsillitis due to candy- 
eating, 135, 136 

Tooth-brush, use of, 113 
paste, 275 
powder, 275 

Trachoma, 104 

Training, reduction, 127, 
128 

Tray bath, 21 

Travelers, idiosyncrasies of, 
190-196 

Traveling, effect of, on vi- 
tality, 193 
nervous fatigue in, 196 

Trousseau, the, 235, 236, 
244, 245 

Tub, portable, 21 

Tuberculosis, see Consump- 
tion 

Typhoid fever due to im- 
pure water, 158 
nervousness due to, 160 

Underweight, the girl of, 
see Girl of underweight 

Unselfishness, relation of, 
to beauty, 231 

Untidiness, 40-42, 205 

Vacation, effects of, 197 

pitfalls of, 190-196 
Vegetables, microbes on, 
157, 158 



Ventilation necessary to 
health, 163, 164 

of bedroom, 3, 4, 9 

relation of, to com- 
plexion, 219, 251 
Vermilion, a poison, 80 
View from bedroom win- 
dow, 4, 5 
Vinaigrette, recipe for, 280 
Vinegar, aromatic, 281 

stains removed by, 86, 87 

toilet, 281 
Voice, the, 114-121 

breathing in relation to, 
116, 117 

care of, 119-121 

characteristic of indi- 
vidual, 117, 118 

climate in relation to, 115 

effect of night air on, 120, 
121 

index of mental condi- 
tion, 120 

influence of, 120 

modulations of, 117, 118 

producing organs, mech- 
anism of, 118, 119 

the greatest charm of 
all, 114-121 

uncultivated American, 
114, 115 

Waist bands, tight, 35 
Waist, exercise for slender, 
263, 264 



306 



INDEX 



Walking, a means to beauty 
242 
for chest expansion, 265, 

266 
in obesity, 130 
Walls of the bedroom, 7 
Warmth for insomnia, 212 
Warts, malignant growths 

from, 76 
Washcloth, absorbent cot- 
ton substitute for, 277, 
278 
Water, bee sting relieved by 
cold, 185 
bee sting relieved by hot, 

185 
-drinking between meals, 
12 

relation of, to skin, 
219, 220 
dressing for corns, 51 
in sleeping-room, care 

of, 158 
toilet, 279, 280 
typhoid fever due to im- 
pure, 158 
White hair, 61-63 

spots on nails, 90 
" Wild hairs," 103 



Women in business, advan- 
tages of employing, 
201-203 
disadvantages of em- 
ploying, 204-208 
Wood-chopping as exercise, 

170, 171, 251, 252 
Wool for clothing, 33 
Work and play, intermit- 
tent, 177, 178 
baskets for the sick, 229 
relation of, to beauty, 221 
Worry, cause of wrinkles, 

123 
Wound, cleansing of, 158 
Wrinkles due to mouth- 
breathing, 142 
worry, 123 
"paraffin treatment " for, 
77, 78 
" Wrist-drop," 74 
Wrist, exercise to 
strengthen, 268 

X-ray pictures of foot, 47 

Yellow fever carried by 

mosquitos, 186 
Youthfulness, test of, 222 



OCT 



16 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 
15 IS 



